Whitewing
by The Shadow Master of Weapons
Summary: Alex is an evolved human who lost his memory long ago who searches for clues to his past. Along they way he will find things such as love and hate. In the end will he choose to keep searching or lead a new life with the one he loves? Ch 8 rewriten
1. Chapter 1

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Summary: This is the story of Alex Whitewing, an evolved human. Having lost his memory, he searches constantly for clues to the life that he once had. Along they way he will many things such as love, make a few friends, and even come across a few enemies. In the end, will he choose to continue searching for answers may never find or pick a new life altogether with the one he loves?

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine

xXx

The year is 2435. Pokemon and human relationships have been common for over 400 years now and as a result, many Pokemon now took on a more humanoid appearance walking on two legs with flexible thumbs while still keep almost all of their own physical traits. In the simplest of terms anthro. A pure human was rare sight these days and a pure human family was next to impossible to find. Still, there are feral versions of many Pokemon in this day and age.

Chapter 1:

It another day just like any other for Alex Whitewing. He'd wake up early in the morning and get to high school as the teachers were arriving. He would spend his time researching in the schools library with his only company being the librarian and sometimes a student or two who was trying to get caught up on missing work. Once school started, he would go through all of his classes surpassing most everyone. At lunch, he always ate alone under the shade of an old oak tree on the side of the building and almost always had a book with him. Finally, once school ended, he'd spend another hour or two in the library once again doing research. Alex would then make his way home in the late afternoon or early evening.

Alex, a young human about five and half feet tall was on his way home by himself like always. He had very few friends and chose to spend most of his time alone and he was perfectly content with this. Alex had built a small cave into the side of cliff located on the outskirts of the town he currently lived in located in the southern end of the Welforth Region. Unlike most other regions, the Welforth Region was warm and had a wonderful climate year round. While mostly occupied by flatlands and dense forests, many would come here for the coastlines which were busy almost everyday excepts those in which a storm had moved in. One of other most common attractions of the Welforth Region were the mountain hot springs that littered almost every large mountain in the region.

Alex wore a pair of shorts combined a T-shirt, both of which were a light green in color and kept him warm even into the late hours of the night. His semi-long messy brown hair was slightly combed and came down the back of his neck, but left his blue eyes uncovered for the world to see. His pupils were very dull and red, but you could only see the center of them, as they were so small He walked with a slight limp favoring his left leg over his right. It wasn't that he was actually wounded, but rather that it hurt to walk on it at times. A disease had infected his leg when he was young and while the damage was minimal, it still caused him some pain now and then. He wore no footwear today and the grass felt nice under his feet. Luckily, it had not rained lately, so he wouldn't have to worry about getting mud between his toes.

His left arm was scarred from an old injury he had gained from falling down a cliff long ago and that unfortunate event still affected him today. The ordeal had given him a case of amnesia that had yet to lift. He knew his name and a few things like that, but he couldn't remember who his family was or where he lived back then. He just recalled what he was, his training as a hunter, and other seemingly random facts from before the accident. A family made of a Nidoking and a pair of Nidoqueen took him in for roughly two years before he left at the age of twelve on bad terms. Since then, he has lived on his own and here he was four years later still trying to find out why he had taken that danger ridden mountain pass that day. There was a second much safer route that led around the mountain, so why take the risk of the mountain pass? This question along with many others however remained unanswered even to this very day.

Finally, the cliffside where he had built his house came into view. He sped up his walking pace, the grass under his feet slowly giving way to a roughly flat stone ridden terrain. The cave that served as his house looked like someone had spent years to make it.

The walls and floor were perfectly smooth and level and every edge of the room was rounded. There were very few pieces of furniture in the four room cave. A fridge, counters, a sink, a pair of cabinets, and fire pit took up very little room in the large kitchen which could, if outfitted properly, handle up to eight cooking at the same and still have extra room. The bedroom, which was just as large as the kitchen, but also just like the kitchen, was barely occupied. A pair of hammocks served as beds and aside from a nightstand with a lamp on it and a small dresser, was completely barren. The living area had a couch in it and a bookshelf that was barely occupied only having a few books to fill the shelves. There was also a large toolbox in one corner filled with various tools and a phone on one of the walls. The room itself was twice as large as the kitchen. Finally, the bathroom, which happened to be the only properly outfitted room of the house, was fairly large and equipped with a custom made shower which had a ready supply of warm water at all times. There were no other rooms in this house, at least for now, but every room so far had been properly outfitted with lights and power.

Alex took a seat on the couch. He adjusted his shirt and pulled the necklace that was hidden from view out of hiding. The necklace had three gems on it. The center gem was a ruby in the shape of large fang with the outer gems, both of which were sapphires, were in the shape of teardrops. This was the one of the few things he had always kept with him for it was one of the few things from his past he had always had. A knock at the door caught his attention and Alex put the necklace down the bookshelf where it was once again hidden from view. Alex then made his way to the door where he found one of his two friends waiting for him.

"What brings you out this far from town, Aelita? Your father would have a fit if he knew you were here." Alex said upon noticing the Absol at his door. She barely stood at eye level with him even though they were the same age. Her white fur was bright as always and her fur on the back of her head was long and braided coming down to her waist. She wore a blue shirt with a matching pair of pants. Like always, her yellow eyes shined brightly.

"I'm not alone." Aelita responded at which point her father stepped forward. He easily towered over his child. Alex was about a foot shorter then him.

"I've come to ask a favor. I'll be heading out of town for a week, possibly more and I'd like you to watch over my daughter while I'm gone. I don't want to risk her schooling on the chance that I may get delayed while I'm away." He spoke in a strong voice wearing a fancy black suit with the company logo of a golden crescent moon on top of a silver sun. "I offered her a choice of possible places and she opted to stay with you… again."

"Very well, come on in." Alex moved aside and let the two Absol into his small house.

"Here are your things, Aelita. As for me, I'm already late. I just hope I can catch the next flight." The large Absol stopped one more time in the doorway after setting down a suitcase for his daughter. "I don't think I have to tell you, but if any thing happens to my daughter."

"You'll skin me alive, I heard you the first time you asked if she could stay here. If you don't trust me, then why do you give her the option to stay at my place every time you're called upon to go to other cities for days at a time." Alex asked.

"I've lost my wife and I'm still not used to that fact. I can't stand to lose my daughter as well." The Absol replied.

"Call my cell once you get back so we know when to meet up with you." Alex shouted as the Absol took off. "Come on, let's get your bag put up and I can start on dinner. It is getting to be that time of day." Alex walked toward the bedroom and opened the door carrying Aelita's things.

"Thanks so much for letting me stay. My father's boss just called him a short while ago and told to get on a plane to Sinnoh." Aelita explained.

"That man drives your father hard." Alex replied. "I was planning on just making some roman tonight, but since you're here, is there anything you'd like that I can make?"

"I haven't had perch in a long time." Aelita's ears perked up some hoping for some of her favorite food.

"Then perch it is." Alex made his way to the kitchen to start the meal while Aelita came to help.

--

Alex made dinner with Aelita's help and made what looked like a very hard meal to cook look very easy, something that came with practice. Both Alex and Aelita ate on the couch. Aelita talked a lot and Alex listened adding comments here and there. She knew Alex didn't have much to say, but just being around him gave her sense of peace for some reason. Finally, after they had finished dinner, Alex began his work on creating a dining area for the house he had built and just so happened to still be building.

"Don't stand too close to me. I don't want you to get hurt from this." Alex warned Aelita. She had seen him do this once before and knew all to well the toll it took on Alex.

The young Absol backed up some as Alex placed his hands on the wall where he was planning on adding the new room. Taking deep breaths, Alex prepared himself for one of his most powerful attacks. Even though he looked human, he was far from it. Very few people knew just how strong Alex was and Aelita was one of them. A light green aura like light shone from Alex's hands. His once blue eyes went green as he began to channel his spirit energy into his hands. His breathing became deeper and heavier as he was finally ready to use the attack. He started to push on the wall with hands as if it would move. Slowly, the wall began to bend a bit, but only in small area large enough to be a doorway. Alex applied more pressure as the wall continued to bend back creating a sturdy doorway.

With one final forceful push, the wall was sent back deeper into the cliff as a new room was quickly formed. Just like with every other room, the edges were rounded and the entire room was as smooth as polished granite, but so much stronger. By expanding his spirit energy into a basic shape with this attack, Alex was able to quickly create new rooms for the house without fear of cave-ins. This was do the fact that dirt and stone that had once occupied the area where the new room once stood was forcefully compacted to form the walls, ceiling, and floor of the new room.

Alex fell to his knees his eyes returning to their natural color. The attack had taken a lot out of him and he was just barely able to support himself. Aelita ran over to make sure he was all right.

"No matter how many times I use that attack, I'm never prepared for the sudden lose of energy." Alex slowly made it over the couch after he stood up which greatly depended on Aelita's help.

"That was amazing. I don't think anyone else could have pulled that off." Aelita praised Alex.

"I'm just barely to stand after a move like that. I won't be able to do much more work on this place tonight." Alex informed his guest.

"It's alright. How's your leg holding up?" Aelita asked knowing just how much his leg could bother him at times.

"It still hurts, but not that much." Alex replied.

"Let me make you some tea." Aelita suggested.

"It's in the right hand cabinet." Alex told her as she went to go make the tea.

Aelita came out a few minutes later with a cup of warm tea.

"Thank you." Alex sipped the tea as he adjusted his leg trying to ease the pain some. A sudden beeping from one of Alex's pockets alerted them both to the time. "I've got to start my weekly supply run before the stores close." Alex didn't like it, but unfortunately, he had to go back to town and get the supplies he would need to finish the new room he had just created. If he didn't leave soon, he would have to wait until the beginning of next week to get them as the shop he had ordered parts from wasn't open on weekends. "Now that I'm thinking about it, how long is father expected to be out in Sinnoh?" Alex asked as he put on his boots.

"At least a week." Aelita replied, her ears drooped down knowing that her father could very well miss her upcoming birthday in ten days.

"Come on, let's get going while there is still light out. We can talk on the way." Alex made his way over to the door still moving slightly slow from the short amount of time that he had to recover form the attack he used earlier.

"You mean I can talk and you'll just walk alongside me listening." Aelita joked.

"I am a man of few words." Alex smiled.

xXx

Alex and Aelita walked back to town as the sun just started to set. Aelita talked a lot on the way while Alex listened content to stay quite for the most part.

They had chosen to pass through the old part of town as it was faster to get to the hardware store that way. They were walking past an alley when both of them were grabbed and pulled into the alley.

"Let us go." Alex demanded.

"Shut up." One the brutes shouted. In all, there were four of them. A pair of Primates, a Duskclops, and a Typhlosion had dragged Alex and Aelita down the alleyway.

"Aelita, its been a while." The Typhlosion stepped forward.

"Michael?!" Aelita knew they were in trouble now. Michael was the school's big shot so to speak. He got whatever he wanted whether it was by money or force. His father owned a most of the town. Many girls had thrown themselves at Michael before because of his good looks, tough attitude, and the fact that he was the Pokemon Champion in the school tournaments for three consecutive years. Very few females passed on his advances.

Michael had been after Aelita's heart, well, more like her body since the day he first saw her at the beginning of the school year. He had even tried to mate her once after a few months of her turning him down although a few teachers intervened and made sure to get Michael expelled. Not only did they secede, they almost got him arrested while they were at it. If not for his father, he would be in a detention center right now.

"I must say, you have caused me a bit of trouble. Now, I'll finally get what you owe me." Michael walked over to her and placed a hand her face. He could see just how scared she was. Alex's struggle grew more violent.

"Knock it off kid. There's no way a human could break my hold." The Primate holding Alex told him.

"One problem, I'm not human." Alex eye's became a deeper shade of green the more he struggled. (I just had to pick today to add the new room.) Finally, he broke one arm free of his captor's grip and slammed his elbow into the Primate's face before the second Primate planted his gloved fist into Alex's chest. Alex coughed up some blood as he was hit for second time. His struggling died down as spit up more blood.

"I've heard a lot about you. The name is Andrew, no that's not it. Andy, no that's not it either." Michael leaned down to check on Alex as he was forced onto his knees.

"Leave Alex alone." Aelita shouted.

"Ah, yes. It is Alex isn't it. There are people that talk about you, but they never seem to get your name right. They do however seem to recall that you two get along quite nicely." Michael turned back toward Aelita. "I know that you two are good friends. If you agree not to struggle and let me have what I want, then I won't hurt him. Resist and I'll beat the both of you down and then have my way with you." Michael smirked. "Either way, I'm going to mate with you."

"Alex?" Aelita whispered, her eyes began to tear up before she went limp giving in to Michael's demands. The Duskclops that had been holding her let her go as she slunk to the ground hoping it would be over quickly. She knew Alex was weak from the attack he had used and may not be able to fight them off in his current condition. There was even a chance that he may die if they decided to beat him down in his weakened state.

Michael once again placed his hand on her face as he moved in to kiss her. Michael quickly moved his other hand down to the prize he had long since wanted.

"I'm not done yet." Alex looked up, his green eyes gave off a dull glow. His pupils that were normally very dull and hard to see were now very, very clear. The red spiral cross shaped pupils seemed to pierce right through Michael. "Let me show you my spirit form." Alex yanked both of arms forward breaking free of the Primate that were once holding him down. A bright green light shot out of his right hand and kept growing and shaping itself. In just about a second, a light green, ghost like blade had formed in his hand. The blade was at least nine feet long with a very thin blade like that of a katana, just much, much longer. However, unlike a katana, the blade's edge was sort of hooked like a saw, all of these very short hooks pointed down toward the hilt of the blade.

"Nice trick." Michael clapped his hands amused by the show of ability. "Get him." All three of the other Pokemon charged Alex, who quickly evaded them all by jumping up into the air. With one quick z shaped slash of his newly formed blade, all three of his foes fell over writhing in pain. Each of them had large gash on their body, nothing fatal, but still serious enough to prevent chase. Alex landed hard almost falling over and used the wall to help him stay up.

"Now, let her go." Alex pointed his blade at Michael.

"Please, you barely have the strength to stand." Michael taunted as he grabbed Aelita.

"Aelita. Don't move." Alex warned her. Aelita just nodded her head. Aelita had a great trust in Alex and knew that Alex would safely free her from Michael's grasp. Alex drew his blade back and thrust the weapon and himself forward. The ghost like blade passed through Aelita barely leaving a mark, not to say that this didn't hurt her. Michael on the other hand felt the full force of the weapon and was forced backward as the blade dug deep into his shoulder.

"Why you." Michael screamed in pain as he landed on his backside. "I'll get you for this, both of you." The blade had dug all the way through Michael's shoulder and was sticking out the other end. As Michael fell backward, the part of the blade that had passed through Aelita was jerked straight up and luckily did minimal damage to Aelita. The blade tore through her shirt and messed up her fur a bit, but that was all. Alex fell to the ground unable to support himself any longer. The amount of energy he had used in such a short time was far more then he had ever used before and could end up with severe consequences.

Aelita ran over and grabbed him. They ran out of the alley although Aelita had to support Alex the whole way making sure to catch him he was about to fall over. They quickly ran down the street and into the newer part of town before Michael had a chance to get them. Alex was no longer able to keep himself up and started to fall over too weak from the amount of strain he was under to even talk. He quickly lost consciousness. Aelita then carried him over to the Pokemon Center which luckily, was not too far.

xXx

The sun had finally set over the town. The only light came from a lamp in the corner of the hospital room. Alex awoke to the sounds of running water. "Huh? What happened?"

Aelita who had been pouring herself a cup of cup heard Alex's comment and dropped her paper cup in the sink. She rushed over to greet her friend. "Michael grabbed us as we were walking through the old part of town. You saved me from him." Aelita hugged Alex tightly. The door opened as a Chansey had walked in to see how her patients were doing.

"I'm glad to see your up." The Chansey walked over to Alex and checked his pulse and heartbeat. "From what I can tell, I think your going to be alright. It would help if there were more of your kind to check as a reference."

"I am very unique. It is possible that I may be the only one of my kind, what ever it is that I am." Alex responded.

"The only fact as of date that we know for sure is that you are in fact some sort of evolved human." The Chansey informed Alex.

"That's common knowledge for me." Alex sighed. "I just want to know why I'm the only one of my kind I've seen. Surely, there have to be more. I can't be the only one."

"If there are more out there, there are no records of them." The Chansey explained. "Now that you're up, perhaps you can tell me what happened? Aelita says that you summoned a sword out of nowhere and used it to fend off Michael and his gang. Personally, I think the stress got to her."

"He did. He really did summon a sword." Aelita half shouted.

"I just don't see how that is possible even for him. Its not like he can just create things out of nothing." The Chansey countered.

"It wasn't a sword I summoned, it was my spirit form. Everyone has one, but very few can use it." Alex told them. "Most of the time, those who can use their spirit form take on something that gives them hope or a sense of safety like armor or the shape of another. Some take on the form of monster and let the monster take on the monsters that they fear in a sense of the word. In any case, the spirit form always takes on some sort of form linked to the summoner's subconscious thoughts and always grants the summoner great speed and strength." Alex head sank some as he recalled the sad tales that blade oriented from. "Me, my spirit form was the blade called the Lunar Star."

"A blade. Why a blade? What purpose would that serve?" Chansey asked.

"The Lunar Star is the nine foot blade used by the knights in a string of fairy tales my father always told me when I was very young. The blade in the story was said to be made of moonlight and was only used by those would protect the innocent. The first time I used my spirit form was long ago and that was what shape my spirit form took." Alex told them. "Once a person takes on their spirit form for the first time, that form becomes their strongest spirit form. Over time, their spirit form may change as events happen and affect them, but their first spirit form will always be their strongest."

"Very well, I'll take you word on the matter as I have nothing else to compare it with." Chansey headed for the door. "I'll have to ask you to stay over night. You were very weak when Aelita dragged you in and I want to make sure you recover your energy before you leave."

"So much for getting any work done this weekend." Alex leaned back as he adjusted his position from a sitting on the edge of the bed to sitting against the headboard of the bed. Aelita took a seat on the second bed that was in the room. Now that Alex actually looked at her, she had a new shirt on. This new shirt was red T-shirt and a little large on her, but Alex could still see the bandages that were hidden underneath it. "What happened to you?"

"When your spirit form as you called it pierced Michael's shoulder, he fell back and the blade was jerked up. My shirt was ruined, but I'm fine. Just a few minor cuts and scrapes." Aelita told him.

"I'm sorry for hurting you, but we were in a real bind. I was running out of energy fast and had to do something to keep him off of you. I'll pay the hospital bill and buy you a new shirt." Alex offered as an apology.

"No, it's alright. The second I saw you summon that sword, I knew you'd get us out of there and you did. I just hope Michael leaves us alone now." Aelita walked back over to the sink and poured herself that cup of water she had almost forgotten about.

"I'm more concerned about if he tries to press charges against me. I know how powerful his father is and if he hires a lawyer." Alex worried.

"No, Michael wouldn't dare get his father involved in this. If word got out that a human gave him a wound like that, he'd never hear the end of it. He care's too much about his reputation to let something like that bring him down." Aelita told Alex. "What you should really worry about is staying away from him."

"I'll keep that in mind." Alex told her. "Say, here's another question for you. Why did you give in to Michael's demands so easily?"

"I though you were to too weak to fight them off. I didn't want you to get hurt." Aelita responded almost instantly not even thinking over her answer.

"You should know me better then that. If I'm not out cold, then I can still fight if I have to." Alex told her with half a smile on his face trying to hide the fact that he knew all to well the events today could have ended so much worse and possibly, with the death of both of them.

"And you know that I don't like seeing my friends get hurt." Aelita quickly told Alex. "You scared me today more then Michael did losing consciousness like that just after we got out of that alley." Aelita raised her voice some showing that she was indeed scared about the events that had taken place.

"I couldn't let Michael have his way with you. I've been down the road once and got lucky. I managed to break free, but still, those feelings from that day remain. It's not a thing I would willingly let happen to my friends." Alex told her, his voice had gone from a gentle tone to a serious one. "If I can do something to prevent such a thing from happening to others, you can bet that I will. That event plays a part in why I have lived alone for the past four years."

"I never knew that. What happened?" Aelita asked.

"It's not something I like to talk about." Alex replied. "I'm hungry, what about you?" Alex quickly changed the topic not wanting to think about the two years he had spent with that so called family who had found him all those years ago. Aelita knew it would be best not to bring up the past right now, not after the events that had happened only hours ago.

Alex went to go get up, but his right leg gave way under his weight causing him considerable pain. His face tightened, his teeth were visible, and his eyes were tightly shut as he grabbed his leg in pain.

"Alex!" Aelita jumped out of her bed and ran over to Alex knocking the pillow off the bed. She had reached Alex before the pillow had hit the floor and helped him back up onto the bed as the Chansey quickly rushed back into the room.

"What happened?" She demanded.

"My leg is acting up again." Alex taking deep breathes trying to steady himself.

"I'll get you a shot of pain killers and then we can take an X-ray to see if anything is broken." The Chansey offered.

"The X-ray won't be needed. I already know what's wrong with my leg." Alex informed her. "Before I evolved, I picked up an infection that caused some muscle deterioration. My evolution halted the bug and healed some of the damage, but not all of it."

"I thought evolution healed all forms of disease." The Chansey was very confused.

"The damage had already been done before I evolved. Just give my leg a minute to settle down." Alex was already beginning to feel the pain subside the more he left his leg alone. "I don't suppose it would be too much to ask if you bring me something to eat since I can't walk right now."

"I'll bring the both of you some soup. We have vegetable and cream of mushroom right now. Which would you like?" Chansey asked.

"Vegetable, please." Alex and Aelita replied.

Chansey left the room and returned a few minutes later to find that Aelita had pulled a chair over to Alex's bed. "I'm surprised you two aren't a couple yet."

"I'm not sure I'm ready for that yet." Alex informed her.

"And yet you charged into a fight, wounded no less, to save her." Chansey said in as somewhat questioning tone.

"I have my reasons. I always do." Alex told her.

"Alright. Anyway, here is your soup. Enjoy. I'll be back in a few hours to check back in on you." With that, the Chansey handed Alex and Aelita their bowls and left.

A very light beeping like ring sounded from the desk beside Aelita. Aelita saw Alex's small black cellphone was ringing and handed it to Alex. Alex flipped it open and an image of Aelita's father appeared on the screen.

"I know it's late and I just called to… Why are you in the Pokemon center?" Aelita's father started by apologizing, but quickly went to asking questions.

"Mr. Kilter, I'm surprised to hear from you so soon." Alex replied in a calm voice.

"What happened, where is my daughter?" Mr. Kilter demanded.

"Papa, relax. I'm fine." Aelita adjusted Alex's hand so that she was now in seen on the video link.

"What happened? Are you alright?" Mr. Kilter went into a frenzy of questions when he saw a stray bandage sticking out of her sleeve that had come undone.

"I'm fine. Michael tried to get me to go out with him and Alex fended him off for me." Aelita explained hoping her father would buy her story.

"Then how come the two of you are in the Pokemon center." Mr. Kilter was quickly becoming angry at the lack of detailed answers he wanted.

"Things got out of hand. Michael tried to take your daughter by force, but I fended him off." Alex explained knowing that Mr. Kilter would get he truth one way or another.

"I thought I told you to stay away from Michael." Mr. Kilter scolded his daughter. "If not for the fact that the air port has been shut down due to some stray bolt of lighting taking out the flight tower, I'd already be on my home to deal with you."

"With all due respect sir, Michael didn't leave us much choice." Alex explained. The screen suddenly went fuzzy and filled with static before a message appeared stating that the signal had been lost.

"What happened?" Aelita asked.

"Hold on, let me check." Alex brought up a menu and began scrolling around. Finally, he found what he had been looking. "According to this, there is a huge storm developing over the city where your father is at. No satellite signals can get through right now." Alex assured her. "Then again, it is the time of year for storms in Sinnoh. Don't tell me you didn't see the storm clouds behind your father."

"Does it say hold long this storm will hold out?" Aelita asked.

"By the looks of this weather report, at least until day break, maybe longer." Alex informed her. "Come on, let's eat. The soup is getting cold."

Alex and Aelita finished their soup and Ashley went to sleep shortly after. As for Alex, he just laid there for a while thinking about the reasons he still had the Lunar Star as his selected spirit form. Perhaps it was meant as a reminder of a past he can't remember. Alex finally drifted off an hour later around one in the morning.

xXx

Alex woke up early that morning. He didn't need too much sleep since he did lose consciousness for a while before going to sleep. He looked around and saw the start of the sunrise. The window gave him the perfect view of the sun rising up over the ocean. He started to move, but quickly realized that he was not the only who was awake. Aelita's eyes were wide open as she tilted her head to look at Alex.

"Alex, I have a question." Aelita voice was very nice, but sort of sad as if she feared the answer to the question she was going to ask.

"What is it, Aelita?" Alex sat up on the edge of the bed and moved his leg around seeing just how sore it was before he attempted to walk with it.

"Do you think we will ever be more then just friends?" Aelita asked taking a sitting position.

"What do you mean?" Alex was caught off-guard by the question. He had known Aelita for about a year and half now. They met back up in the last town Alex had built a house in and there first meeting was by the river that had passed through the town. It was just luck that Aelita's father had purchased a house in the same area where Alex had already planned on going for schooling, but both of them were happy to see each other again.

"I mean I want to be more then just friends with you. Yesterday was the second time you saved me." Aelita recalled the events of their first chance meeting last year.

Aelita had been walking one of the old riverside paths. She was walking along happily thinking nothing would happen even with the rapid next to the path as she had taken this path many times before. A sudden unexpected wave carrying a large fallen tree caught her out of the blue and dragged her into the river. Alex had been walking the riverside that day as well looking to gather berries when he saw Aelita getting swept away by the harsh river. He dropped the pack he had and using the rope he had with him, secured himself to a large tree before diving in and saving Aelita. It was chance meeting, but both of them were happy that it took place.

"What are you getting at?" Alex asked. He was not a social person, so he had no idea where Aelita was going with this. He was so far lost, that not even a map would help him.

"I mean I want to… to be…I want to be your mate." Aelita turned her head blushing hoping to hide her face out from the embarrassment. It was not uncommon for Pokemon to pick their mates as early as sixteen. This statement had Alex at a loss of words and his silence began to worry Aelita as she kept her head turned as it started to sink down some.

Alex got up and walked over to Aelita ignoring what little pain his leg gave him. "Aelita." Alex gently took hold of her shoulders. "I would be honored to have you as my mate." Alex gently pulled her closer to him. Aelita wrapped her arms around him and gently pulled him into what was meant to be short, but thankful kiss. It turned out long passionate kiss instead. As Alex had no idea what he was doing, he surrounded the lead to Aelita who could care less who led.

A quick knocking at the door quickly brought the two apart as Chansey entered the room just in time so see them break the kiss. "I was beginning to wonder if you two would ever get together. Anyway, I heard your voices and came to check up on the two of you. Seeing that you're on your leg Alex must mean that ready to leave. Let me give you a quick check up and if everything looks fine, I'll let the two of you go."

"Very well. The sooner we get out of here, the sooner we can get back to my house. Since I won't be able to do any work on the dining room this weekend, I guess I'll just spend it with you." Alex looked down at Aelita who was still sitting on the bed.

Chansey gave them both a quick check and removed Aelita's bandages since the few small cuts that she had were sealed over. As for Alex, Chansey looked him over and then pronounced them both fit to leave, but still told Alex not to strain himself. It would still take some more time for him to fully recover the energy loss he suffered from yesterday. Even a small confrontation could easily return him to the Pokemon Center. With that, Alex and Aelita headed back for Alex's house in the light of the rising sun. The sunlight glistened off the grass this morning adding a very peaceful and kind atmosphere to the air. Apparently, a light shower had rolled through the city last night.

--

Alex and Aelita were getting close to Alex's house when both of them slipped into a large mud puddle. Alex tried to correct himself as he started to slip, but his leg didn't like the sudden shift and gave way, luckily without the pain from the last time it gave out. Aelita used her claws to help prevent herself from falling, but Alex accidentally pulled her down with him and got both of them covered with mud.

"Well, at least there is warm shower waiting for us once we get back. I'll let you take the first shower though since we both know how hard it is to get mud out of fur." Alex offered as he picked himself up. Looking down the path revealed a welcomed sight, his house was only a short distance away.

"Or we could take a shower together?" Aelita offered. For the past few weeks, Aelita had been hoping to someday get close to Alex. Now that they were officially a couple, Aelita didn't feel like waiting anymore. She had a plan to show just how much she had grown to love Alex since there first meeting a year and a half ago.

"If that's what you want." Alex smiled as he got up and helped Aelita to her feet. Both of them were now covered in mud. They made their way to Alex's house where they then made their way to bathroom. He had no idea what Aelita was planning.

Alex closed the door as Aelita began to remove the shirt that the Chansey had let her borrow. Alex was already removing his shirt. Aelita wasn't wearing her bra as one strap had been cut from the events that took place yesterday. Her small, but still lovely breasts now moved freely as the shirt came off, but looked slightly larger due to the fur that covered her body. She now had a very slight scar on her left shoulder, but it was mostly hidden by her fur. As she handed Alex her borrowed shirt, she finally got a good look Alex. The scars on his left arm didn't stop at his shoulder like she had once thought, but instead covered much of his left. It looked like a web of very light red lines flowing all the way from his arm down to his shorts where they finally stopped.

"Those scars are all from that one fall?" Aelita asked. Alex smiled knowing exactly which fall she was talking about. She was one of the very few people he had told about the fall that left him scarred and with a case of amnesia.

"This is my reminder of the events of that day." Alex told her looking down at his scars. Aelita laid her hand on his side and was able to partially feel rough texture of his scars. "I don't think they'll ever fade out."

Aelita slowly turned as she went to take of her pants. Her normally white panties had a light pink heart on the front of them, but do to the mud, they were now stained brown. Alex took off his belt as he started the shower that would easily accommodate both of them. For that matter, it was large enough for a pair of Feraligatr, which stood over seven and a half feet tall. In total, it had six showerheads, two on the left side and two on the right side of the shower. The last two were mounted on the ceiling. The far wall was built in two parts. The lower part held the drain for this large shower and it was built right into the wall. The upper part pushed deeper into the mountainside serving as a large stone bench of sorts.

They wouldn't have to wait for the warm water to kick in since the water came directly from the same source as the Ashzara Hot Springs the mountain was known for. As Aelita slowly began to remove her only undergarment, Alex was finally removing his shorts. Aelita stepped into the shower letting the water run over her face and down her body. The mud on her was still wet and would wash away with only the slightest bit of work.

Alex removed his plain gray boxers and after setting down his clothing and Aelita's in different piles in the sink, stepped into the shower with his back to Aelita's.

At first he simply let the water run down his body carrying with it some of the mud that had covered his body. Aelita was finishing up with her arms and upper body, her white fur was already returning to its natural color. "Could you help me with my back?" She asked. While she could reach most of her back, there were still a few places that she could not.

"Sure, I can do that." Alex turned, grabbed a scrub brush and gently worked the mud out of her back. Aelita enjoyed the feeling of how gentle Alex was as he worked making sure to go over every spot above her waistline much to the disappointment of Aelita.

"Alex." Aelita turned to face Alex. The water ran down her back quickly collecting the mud off her tail and nether regions. She looked up at him with her kind eyes looking straight in Alex's.

"Yes Aelita?"

"Thanks again for saving me yesterday." With one quick motion, Aelita stood on her toes and kissed Alex. It was a short innocent kiss, but gave Alex a speechless reaction. Aelita blushed as she stood back on her feet leaning against Alex, her head on his chest. Alex wrapped her arms around her smiling. He was beginning to feel something he had not felt in long time. This feeling of warmth had been long since locked away every since he first living on his own. He did his best to keep his emotions in check since the first day he had left that so called family of Nidoking and Nidoqueen.

The two of them stood there for a while quietly as the water ran over their bodies. It wasn't long before both of them were mud free, but still they just stood there. Aelita felt at peace in his arms, happy and carefree. Alex felt a warm in his heart, something very new to him. For the better part of the four years he had spent living on his own, he was always searching for his past. He moved from one area to another in search of more information that related to whatever he was. He never really thought about life that much, but now he was thinking about it. For the first time a very long time, he thought about the present.

"Aelita. For the past few years, I've always lived alone in solitude. Perhaps it is time that I thought about something other then tracking down my past." Aelita smiled at Alex's words and wrapped her tail around the two of them at their waists. She had always made sure to keep it well trimmed and it felt nice pulling the two of them together. She once again looked at his face as she moved her arms around his neck. Slowly she moved up on her toes to kiss him again. Alex smiled leaning down some to make it easier for Aelita.

The lips connected again. Like before, it was a sweet, gentle kiss, but unlike before, it lasted more then just a second. Aelita once again took the lead after a few and pressed her tongue up against Alex's lips asking for passage. Alex spread his lips and Aelita slowly began to explore his mouth. It only took Alex a few seconds to begin trying to explore her mouth only to find the passage blocked by her tongue. Their tongues were now twisting and turning, gently fighting for dominance.

Alex was the first to break the kiss since he had smaller lungs then Aelita. Both of them smiled as Aelita continued to take the lead. Even if Alex wanted to, he had no idea where to start. "Alex?" Aelita looked up at Alex, her eyes full of love. The water continued to flow down them freely even though there was not even one spec of mud on them. "Would you…" Aelita began to blush very deeply running her hand down his chest. "Like to mate me?" Aelita knew this is what she wanted and even thought she had lots of time to think about it, she still ad trouble asking such a question.

"This has been the best day of my life. I could not ask for more then this." Alex replied. He limp member had already began to stiffen some. To help him along, Aelita had moved her hand all the down and gently took hold of the rod she was to soon feel inside her. As she once again began to kiss Alex, her hand gently rubbed his member making sure that he was ready for what was to come.

It wasn't long at all before Aelita could feel fully erect rod standing in her hand slightly nudging her stomach. She turned some and backed herself on to the stone bench.

"Are you sure you want this?" Alex asked as she laid back. Water still flowed over them freely in gentle streams running down their bodies.

"Yes, I know I want this." Aelita began to guide Alex to her entrance. "Please be gentle."

"I will." Alex reassured her with another kiss. With one hand, he held her head, and with the other, he held himself over her entrance. Aelita could the head of cock now touching her pussy. With a small thrust, Alex pushed his second head into inviting warmth that Aelita had offered.

Alex slowly pushed more of himself into his mate as small waves of pleasure began to flow over them. Alex was slow to enter and at last, he felt something obstructing his path. He looked to Aelita. "Shall I go on?" Alex had to make sure one last time before moving on that this was what Aelita wanted. Aelita once again wrapped her tail around Alex's waist and nodded as she closed her legs around him urging him to move on. Alex drew out, but a little and then with one swift thrust, he punctured her hymen.

Aelita jerked slightly at the pain and shifted some to find a more comfortable spot holding her legs tightly around Alex who waited Aelita to give the okay to continue. It didn't take long for the pain to ease and pleasure to take over. She looked up at Alex rocking her hips slightly showing that she was ready. Alex was slow to pull out leaving only the head of dick in Aelita before pushing back in slightly faster then he had pulled out. He pulled Aelita up some so that her back now rested on the wall rather then the stone bench as he began to thrust faster finally finding a steady rhythm. Alex could feel every vibration made my Aelita's pussy through his rod. Every pulse, every twitch, and every flexing muscle.

He ran one hand over the back of her head holding her in place while his second gently ran up and down her back. By now, they had completely forgotten about the shower and all they cared about was each other.

They kissed once again as they continued to mate each other. With Aelita's tail holding onto Alex like it was, she made sure that he wouldn't be leaving her anytime soon. She felt the constant movement of Alex's cock with in her and she loved every second of it. She had felt an eternal love within her for the man she had chosen. Her breaths were shorter now matching the Alex's movements as he thrust in and pulled out of her.

Alex and Aelita both knew that couldn't last much longer, but this wasn't just about mating. The love session was about showing each other how they felt, how much they loved each other, how much they meant to each other. Aelita was panting and she was very close to release as was Alex. Both of them looked at each other as Alex sped up one last time. They leaned in together and locked lips once more. Aelita was the first to climax, her pussy clamped down on Alex milking him, trying to coax out the white treasure that lay within him. Unable to hold out any longer, Alex began cum, his seed shooting deep into his love's pussy. At last, they broke their kiss.

Since the shower was already running, the two lovebirds washed themselves down once again as they prepared for the day. The day was far from over and they would spend it together.

xXx

This is just the start of a story idea that I've had for while. Unlike my other stories, this one is will calmer and not involve a war with the world at stake. Instead, it will just follow the life of Alex Whitewing and Aelita on one long and interesting adventure full of love, hate, mischief, friends, and mysteries.


	2. Chapter 2

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

xXx

Chapter 2

Alex and Aelita got dressed for the day. Alex had chosen to wear a pair of large cargo pants with a matching shirt, both a light tan in color. As for Aelita, she went to put on a pair of shorts, but Alex stopped her. "You'll want long pants and a light shirt. I've got an idea as how we can spend the day."

Aelita looked up in interest as she put the shorts back into her suitcase and pulled out a pair of jeans while Alex began to check something on his phone. "So, where is this place you happen to be thinking about?" Aelita found a suitable light blue T-shirt and put it on as Alex pulled out a large hiking pack out of the bottom drawer of the dresser.

"Up the mountain some. Pack up a pair of shorts, your swimsuit, and something to sleep in tonight. The weather reports says there is almost no chance for rain today and I know for a fact that tonight is going to be a full moon." Alex explained as he packed up a few things including a very large sleeping bag.

"So, we'll be spending the night outside with the stars then?" Aelita couldn't exactly think of any place on the mountain other the few hot spring bathhouses, but they were on the far side of the mountain. Aelita had her things ready to go in a few minutes still pondering where Alex was taking her and then handed them to Alex to put into the hiking pack. He also grabbed a smaller backpack and stuffed that into the hiking pack.

"Not exactly, I already have a small cave set up for when I head up the mountain. Come on, I'll make some breakfast before we leave." Alex finished packing the bag and made his way to the kitchen.

xXx

Alex and Aelita had a quick breakfast of eggs, berries, and milk before they left. Alex carried the hiking pack and led the way down the cliffside. "So, where are we going? The hot springs are on the other side of the mountain?" Aelita asked. She couldn't keep herself from asking. It wasn't that she was curious about where they were staying, it was more a matter that she couldn't figure out where they were headed. On the route she thought they were taking, it would take them all day to get to the hot springs where as if they had gone around the other way, it would only take a few hours.

"You'll like it, I can guarantee that much." Alex replied giving no hints as to where they were going.

"Come on, tell me." Aelita asked again.

"Just trust me on this. It will be well worth the hour hike." Alex smiled.

After a short ten minutes of walking, Alex stopped and looked toward the cliff. A small network of large vines had been growing up the side of the cliff and Alex knew exactly how strong they were from past experience. "I thought you said it was an hour hike?" Aelita was really starting to get confused.

"Alright, I know that you can climb this. Just wait until I'm at the top then you can follow me up." With those words, Alex grabbed onto the network of vines and quickly worked his up the cliffside without fault. By wrapping each vine lightly around his wrist as he climbed, then releasing the vine for a new one, he was able to fully support himself against the cliff without the risk of falling off even if he foot had slipped off the cliffside. Alex climbed up to the ledge that was his goal for now and looked on at the forgotten path he had traveled many times before. The only difference was that this time, he would not go it alone.

Aelita was faster to climb the vines then Alex as she had claws to help her with her footing and there was the fact that she was both, a bit lighter and slightly stronger then Alex. Once at the top, Alex helped Aelita up the cliff and onto the ledge. "I've never been up here." Aelita had been on this mountain a lot, but this area was very new to her. A large gathering of maple like trees littered the area and there were no visible marked trails.

"Follow me." Alex told her as she followed him into the trees. Alex knew the path he was taking by heart as he had been up here several times before. Aelita on the other hand was very lost and had to stick close to Alex. She was very impressed by the variety of plants on the unseen path that Alex was following. There were several different berry bushes like Oran, Pinup, Razz, Ganlon, and even a few of the very rare Yoshama berry bushes that was valued for its medical uses. The berry itself was a light yellow in color, round, very smooth, had a sweet taste to it. It revitalized the body quickly as well as purified the body of poisons. What kept most people from eating it however were the thorns that grew by the dozens all over the bush.

It was a long walk and Aelita was able to keep a general idea of which direction they were traveling. Finally, Alex stopped in front of patch of vines that covered path. "You remember that trip to Suicune falls correct?" Alex as he turned to face Aelita.

"Yea, but that was at the bottom of the mountain." Aelita knew that couldn't be anywhere near the falls since they had been on a slow, but steady rise up the mountain on whatever path Alex had led her.

"Allow me to show the lake that feeds the Suicune falls." Alex lifted his arm moving a large number of loose vines out of the way. On the other side of the vines was a large lake. Trees lined the lake and several feral Pokemon could be seen all over the place. One the one side of the lake was a river which must of fed the Suicune Falls. On the other end was another waterfall, just not as big. "They say that Suicune has a nest here. Many people claimed to have seen Suicune head this way, but the last sighting of such an event was back in 2132 when a plane crashed here." Alex pointed up to the northern end of the waterfall that fed the lake before them.

"I know all that. We have the same history class." Aelita stated.

"But there's more to it then that. That plane that crashed is was created the waterfall that feeds this lake which in turn flooded this area which caused the creation of the Suicune falls." Alex continued. "I however think I found something a while back that may prove all of those Suicune sightings were true." Alex smiled.

"Huh? And just how could you do that?" Aelita asked.

"Because there was one cave that was much too high to climb to before this area got flooded and became the lake it is now. However, with the water like it is now, we can swim there." Alex informed Aelita. "Come with me and I can show you what I found." Alex led the way along the lakeside before coming to another cliffside, only this one was much taller then the one that Alex had built his house in. Alex turned and started walking along the cliffside and away from the lake. He stopped as he came up to large willow tree.

"Well, this is where we'll be sleeping tonight." Alex said as he walked under the willow tree.

"Here?" Aelita asked. There was no flat ground here, just a bunch of roots and a few berry bushes. She soon realized that Alex had been busy up here once she was under the willow tree. There in the cliffside was a large rounded hole, which was very smooth and very familiar to Aelita. Aelita walked over to the hole as saw a small room that had been into the cliffside much the same way as Alex had built his house he currently lived in. "You've been busy haven't you."

"This is where I like to spend those extended weekends we get from school. It's quite, calm, relaxing, and most of all, a private place that very, very few people know about." Alex pulled out his blue swim trucks as he handed Aelita her two piece bikini that were a lovely blue with white trim. Both of them removed the clothing that had worn to get here and replaced it with the much lighter swimsuits that they had packed. Alex set the hiking pack down on a large wooden log that was standing up serving as a makeshift desk. Alex once again led her to the water where he slowly waded into the water.

Aelita followed Alex's example and made her way out to meet him as he slowly swam along the cliffside. It was only a short swim around the corner before Alex stopped. "This is it." Alex said as he pointed up the cliff a bit. A small ledge about two feet up off the water's surface hung above them.

"And how do we get up there?" Aelita looked at the cliffside, but couldn't find any useable ledges to climb on.

"Like this." Alex eyes went green as he gather up a very small sum of his spirit energy into his hands. "One of my more interesting traits is climbing up walls like this." Alex one hand on the cliff and it stuck like glue. It took him a minute, but he climbed the wall almost like a spider and once the ledge, he dropped a vine down to Aelita so that she could follow.

"How did you do that?" Aelita asked once she was up on the ledge with Alex.

"The same way I mold rock into rooms. I expand my spirit energy out, but instead of forcing the rock and dirt outward, I force myself to stay firmly attached to the rock instead." Alex told her. "Problem is that I can only hold myself to any one spot for about ten second or the rock will start to shift and then I loose my grip."

"So basically, you have move fast or else." Aelita asked as she began to walk into the cave with Alex.

"Yep. Now then this is what…That wasn't here before." Alex looked into the center of the small room that the cave led into. The cave was no bigger then the living area of his house and there were small white and blue eggshell fragments littered about. However, there in the center of the room was a large white and blue egg about the size of pair of footballs.

"I think we had better leave." Alex took a step back, but Aelita seemed fascinated by the egg in the room.

"Alex, this is amazing. I've never seen an egg like this. How long has it been here?" Aelita came to the conclusion that this egg was what Alex wanted to show her.

"I've never seen that egg before, Aelita. Whatever kind of egg it is, it wasn't here two weeks ago." Alex walked over and grabbed Aelita by the shoulder only, he never got a chance to pull her out of the cave.

A low growling could be heard behind them. "Don't move." Alex whispered to Aelita who was still on her knees. Alex took a chance and very slowly turned around to see one very beautiful, but angry looking Pokemon looking right at him.

The creature looking at him stood on four legs with a light blue, almost aqua colored fur all over her body with white diamond shaped patterns on her legs. A pair of white ribbons like appendages served as her tails. She had small blue horns had a headdress like effect to them covering a large stream of purple lair on the top of her head.

"Who are you?" The creature spoke.

"I'm Alex Whitewing, some sort of evolved human and this is my mate Aelita. We swear we did not know that this egg was here." Alex spoke slowly and calmly.

"Why have you come here" She barked.

"I meant only to show my mate the egg fragments that littered this cave. I was here two weeks ago and there was no egg, so I assumed this cave to be abandoned. We shall leave at once." Alex motioned for Aelita to slowly rise.

Aelita's eyes went wide as she suddenly felt impending danger. Just like her feral Absol brethren, she was more then able to sense a natural disaster coming. "Earthquake." Aelita shouted. A sudden violent shaking of the cave startled them all as a large section of the cave roof began to come down. Suicune rushed for her egg, but a large piece of rock fell from the ceiling causing her to jump back. As she landed however, the ledge gave way under her weight and the shaking of the quake. She fell into the as Aelita ran out of the cave and dove into the water just before the cave began to collapse with Alex still inside.

He hurried over to the egg and grabbed it. Holding it tightly against his chest with one hand, he used his other hand to fire the attack know as Spirit Surge, the Spirit based equivalent of Aura Spheres, at the larger falling chunks of collapsing rock as he ran out of the cave. He jumped just in time as the cave gave out. A large chunk of the cliff side slid into the water as the quake stopped. The result of the cliffside changing as it did changed the water slightly creating a larger, much calmer waterfall as the water was not all rushed out of such a small space anymore. Alex hit the water rather hard face first almost knocking himself out, but he still had a tight grip on the egg.

Suicune was quick to rescue him and her egg, then she quickly raced toward the shore with Alex in her mouth hanging by his swimming trunks. Aelita hurried to keep up with Suicune, but she was still no match for the Suicune's speed on water.

Suicune gently placed Alex on the shore making sure he would not crush her egg. Aelita rushed up the shore to where Alex was set down. Alex was slow to regain himself, but once he did he went to make sure the egg was unharmed.

"Why would you risk you life like that?" Suicune asked. Her rear left leg had been bruised and she lifted it up some to take the weight off of it.

"It was right there in front of me. Just couldn't let it stay there with cave collapsing down on us." Alex responded. He shook his head to try and shake off the remaining dizziness that remained from the rough landing in the water.

"You have my thanks. Please forgive me for being so rude earlier. I just don't come into contact with many people." The Suicune walked over to Alex and inspected her egg. "Now then, I must find to hide my egg."

"I have small cave down along the cliff side. It should still be there." Alex got to his feet, the egg still in his hands. "You could leave the egg there while you search for another suitable cave."

"I would rather not. I'm already uncomfortable enough with just the two of you knowing about my egg." The Suicune told them.

"It's just me and Aelita. No one even knows were up here. We can watch over your egg while you look unhindered for another cave to hide it in. I can promise you that we will tell no one about your egg." Alex was finally back to senses and able to stand up straight without feeling dizzy.

"I thank for saving my egg, but I would still rather do this on my own. Forgive my not trusting you, but many before you have tried to capture me. Normally, I would not be so concerned about such things, but I can't risk capture before my egg hatches." With that, the Suicune gently took her egg into her mouth and ran off across the lake searching for a new nest to place the egg.

"Well, Alex. You certainly proved her existence." Aelita took a seat on the shoreline, her legs just barely in the water.

"Not the way I planned on it though." Alex took a seat next to his mate. Both of them sat there for a short while recovering from the small shock of the earthquake and would have sat there longer, but hunger got the better of Aelita.

"What all did you bring to eat?" Aelita asked as she slowly got up.

"I didn't bring anything. The berry bushes around here provide me with more then choices to have a balanced diet. Come on, I know the perfect little spot to pick some Yoshama berries." Alex pointed down the lakeside away from the cliff.

It was a short walk to where the lake became a river. The few feral Pokemon that were there quickly took cover upon seeing Alex and Aelita come up to the riverbank. Alex just smiled as he looked upon the several Yoshama Berry bushes that grew here.

"Just take a few from each bush." Alex pulled out a small sack he had tucked away in the pocket of his swim trucks.

"And how do we pick them? Those thorns are sharp." Aelita questioned.

"Watch and learn." Alex bent down next to the river and picked up a small stick. With the stick firmly in hand, he walked over to the nearest bush and tapped the base of the bush. A few berries came free and rolled down the bush before landing softly on the grass. Alex picked them up and put them into the sack. "A light tap on the base of the bush will cause the ripe ones to fall free from the bush."

Aelita copied Alex's example and soon enough, they had a few large handfuls of berries taken from the many bushes around them.

After they were all in the sac, Alex dipped the sack into the water and left berries to soak while he bent down to wash his in the river. Once he was done, he picked the sack back up and handed it to Aelita. "I'll let you take the first pick on what berries you want." The two of them moved back to cliffside to enjoy the berries they had picked.

After eating, Alex Aelita decided to do some swimming before heading back to the cave. The rest of the day much quieter as it had been very uneventful compared to that morning.

--

After an hour or so, a pack of clouds covered the sky. They were not dark in color, so it did not look like it would rain. Alex looked at his watch and thought it best to head back to the cave and get dressed again. "Aelita. Let's head back and get dressed to do some exploring. I got a few more things I want to show you before the day the is done." Alex shouted as he walked up on shoreline. Aelita nodded and made her way to meet Alex.

Alex had packed a few towels before they had come here and handed one to Aelita. They changed back into the clothing that they had worn to hike up here that morning before. He picked up the smaller backpack and stored his swimsuit and Aelita's in it before he took off, but he made sure not to let Aelita seen him pack their swimsuits. Once ready, Alex took her hiking again along the cliffside, only this time, away from the lake. "So, where are we going now?" Aelita asked as they left the cave. Alex made sure to take his cellphone to monitor the weather and make any calls if needed.

"A short ways up the mountain. I found something interesting." Alex informed her as they moved along. Several bushes, fallen branches, and thorny underbrush lined their path and while most of it was avoidable, some of it had to be moved, but Alex took care of what had to be moved. "I think it might be the an old bathhouse. Anyway, I know for a fact that the place is still standing and they have a wonderful garden which is still intact."

"That doesn't sound too special. What else is there that you want to show me?" Aelita knew that if had to be more then just an old bathhouse that he was going to show her if they were going through the hassle of getting there.

"You're familiar with the flower called the Velvet Rose. I remember your father always saying how much you admired that flower." Alex pointed up the mountain a bit and Aelita could make out the red roof of a building, but all sorts of various plants had grown over it.

"The Velvet Rose hasn't been seen in nearly eight years. They only grew on Mount Moon." Aelita stopped for a second.

"I think I may have found a few that grow else where." Alex told her.

"We'll see if you just pulling my chain soon enough." Aelita hopped gracefully over a fallen log as Alex decided make his way around it.

The old building stood before them. A pair of Dragonite statues greeted them, both of which were covered up to their bellies with moss and vines. The stone walkway was pretty much barren of plants and you could still make out a few of the pictures in the stone tiles. Alex led her closer to the building.

The building it was of an old design, there were no glass windows, but rather, a set of wooden rods cut into various patterns served to keep people from falling out. The pillars that held up the building very large having a sort of spiral design to them. The walls were large and red in color where the paint could still be made out among the many vines and other plants that now coated the outer walls. The main door was formed by a another pair of Dragonite statues, only these two were holding hands form an arch between them.

The inside looked just as old. The building was mostly made of stone and wood, very little metal anywhere. Large torches and fire pits seemed to have provided the light for the building when it was in use long ago. With the sunlight still going strong however, no torches or any other such light was needed though.

"The garden is this way." Alex pointed to hall on the left side of the room. He slowly walked along making sure that Aelita would keep up with him. The halls had several types smaller dragon Pokemon statues in them, each one in a different pose. This place must have belonged to some one who enjoyed the company of dragons. The remains of old curtain that served as doors lined the sides of the hall. Each room was a small bathing area. Finally, Alex turned down into a second hall with Aelita at his side. This hallway led away from the bathhouse a short distance and did not have walls letting the sun light illuminate the area.

At the end of the covered walkway was something along the lines of a large private bathing area. The small building was just one of a few that still stood. Aelita could already make out the signs of poorly kept garden ahead. Several pots were now entangled in the mess of roots and leaves.

"Here we are." Alex lifted what was left of the curtain aside and there in the middle of the room was a large pool. The vines and plants had recently been pulled to the side of the pool, which gave a small amount of steam. On the sides of the room were several velvet colored roses, each one a brilliant shape of purple. The steam rose up out of the room and out the windows on the side of the room. "I come here every so often to relax. It helps to calm my nerves when I have doubts about finding my past. Today however, I share this hot spring with you." Alex took off the pack he brought with him and set it down.

"Alex, its perfect. But didn't tell me to bring my swimsuit." Aelita was unaware that Alex had planned ahead and pulled out their swimsuits from the pack he had. He also pulled out a pair of towels and the remainder of the Yoshama berries that they had not eaten leaving the sleeping bag in the pack for later to watch the sunset.

"We couldn't walk here in our swimsuits, not with those thorns in the way." Alex had already begun to remove his shirt again.

"Ya know, it's just the two of us right. Do we really need them?" Aelita asked thinking that it would be nice and could possibly end up as something more then just a nice long soak in the hot spring.

"I would rather have the swimsuits on. Occasionally, I have found a few feral Pokemon that also enjoy this hot spring. I'd like to have something on just in case they show up." Alex told Aelita as he changed into his trunks.

"Wait, what kind of feral Pokemon?" Aelita asked as she swapped out her current clothing for her bikini once again.

"I've come across a few Shiftry, the occasional Roselia, I even found a Mawile once." Alex gently lowered himself into the hot spring. It was a little deeper then most, coming up over his waistline a little even while he stood. The bench that had lined the sides of the hot spring was in mostly good shape, but still, parts of it had crumbled.

Aelita entered carefully taking a seat next to Alex and choose to use his shoulder once again as a pillow. The water came up to their shoulders as they sat on the bench. The peaceful water and the calm weather presented a certain peace that was rarely found in the city. It was calm and quite, no city noises like crowds of people or vehicles going by. Alex set his cellphone within arms reach of the hot spring before he leaned his head into a string of vines that he had arranged to support his head the last time he was there. It didn't take long for the two of them to fall victim to the relaxing atmosphere and drift off to sleep for now. A few darker clouds began to gather and the light at the bottom of Alex's cellphone began to flash yellow.

xXx

Alex awoke to the noise of angry cellphone. It's not stop beeping had finally awoken him, although it was a little dark out. His first thoughts were that the soothing waters and calm weather had kept them asleep all day. As he came to his senses, he could hear the sounds of heavy rain outside the building they were in. He looked to his phone to find that the screen had been flashing red and yellow, a sure sign that bad weather had moved in quickly and would most likely get worse. He shook Aelita some and as she rubbed her eyes, a loud boom of thunder sounded through out the night shaking the building they were in some.

"Come on, you've got to be kidding me." Alex reached over grabbing his phone as Aelita clung to his side scared by the sudden change in weather she had been woken in. Alex flipped open his phone to find that most of the area was come under a sudden and severe thunderstorm. He now questioned his decision to come here. A bright bolt of lighting streaked across the sky lighting the area and causing a small commotion above them.

Looking up, Alex saw several Pidgey and a few Pidgeotto had take refuge in the small room housing the only usable hot spring left in the bathhouse. They must have sneak in while Alex and Aelita were out cold before the storm rolled in.

"We need to get dressed." Alex stood and climbed out of the water and immediately felt the cold flow over his wet body. He was perfectly fine in the hot water, but that just made it so much worse getting out of the water into the cold air. He hurried to dry himself off, as did Aelita and the two of them quickly got dressed.

"We need to make it back to the cave on the cliffside by the lake." Alex packed up the bag quickly and started down the hall.

"I'm not going anywhere in that weather." Aelita objected. She had a rather strong dislike and small fear of storms. She stayed in the room with the hot spring.

"We can't stay here. If you refuse to head back to the cave, then we at least have to make to the center of the bathhouse where it's dry and hopefully warm." Alex held out his hand and Aelita reluctantly took it not wanting to leave the room she was in, but she knew she had to.

Alex quickly led her down the halls. Rain poured in through the openings that served as windows and it had more of an effect on Alex then Aelita. Alex had no other coverings on his body then the clothing he wore, but Aelita not only had clothing, she also had a fine layer of fur which was very proud of.

After a few turns and a couple long hallways, Alex and Aelita arrived in a large room. The plants in the room had dominated most of the area covering almost everything in their twisting vines and roots. Luckily, there were no feral Pokemon to compete with for rights to the room. Very little rain managed to make its way into this room and so it was very dry. Alex finally checked his watch and saw that it was still mid-afternoon only being 4:06.

Alex had planned on being up here a while and had brought the sleeping bag with him in the smaller hiking pack he had. Alex laid it out in the middle of the room and then took out the remainder of the berries they had. Like the kind person he was, he offered Aelita first pick again. They ate quietly, the storm raging on around them.

--

Finally, the rain ended late that evening. Rather then head back down the mountain in the dark, Alex and Aelita agreed that it would be best to wait until morning when the sun was rising. Using a pair of stones he had found, Alex collected some usable wood and lit up one of the fire pits in the room.

They lay there peacefully watching the last of what they could of the sunset through the bars of the windows.

"So Aelita. Are you glad that I brought you up here?" Alex sat down with Aelita leaning against him, her head resting on his shoulder with a smile on her face.

"It had its rough points, but I spend it with my loving mate. I'll cherish this day for rest of my life along with the all the others we have together." Aelita adjusted her head and pulled Alex into a small kiss.

"I'm hoping you'll cherish this just as much. I was hoping to give you to you earlier, but the storm got in the way." Alex pulled out a necklace from one of the many pockets on his pants. The necklace was made of a silver chain. Each link of chain was in the shape of teardrop and had a small ruby center. The last link on the chain however was much larger then the rest and had a much larger ruby in it. "I've had it for awhile, but I've only just found a use for it."

"Alex, it's amazing." Aelita could not take her eyes off the necklace.

"And it's yours if you so desire it." Alex undid the hook and prepared to place the necklace around Aelita's neck.

"Where did you get this? I've never seen anything so beautiful before" Aelita moved her braided hair to the side making sure that it would not get caught as Alex placed the it on her.

"This is something that me and Johnson found in one of those ruins I like to explore. He said it was worthless to him, so he le me have. Forgot I had it until this morning when I found it again while putting our things in that large hiking pack of mine." Alex smiled as the gently placed the necklace around Aelita's neck and then adjusted it to fit her comfortably.

"Johnson? Isn't he the one who pays for your schooling?" Aelita recognized the name, but she had never met this Johnson, only heard things about him.

"His name is on the account I use yes, but that money in that account is all mine. I've earned every last credit in there." Alex told her. "Legally, he is my guardian for another two years until I turn eighteen, but that's only so that I don't have to deal with any unwanted questions."

"I thought that you lived on your own." Aelita was once again a bit confused.

"For all intensive purposes, I do live alone. Johnson is just there to sign as an adult on the land where I build the houses I use for the school year. Then at the end of school year, he files the paperwork so that I can sell whatever house I've made." Alex turned to face. "I have to say that you look lovely with that necklace."

"You're not planning on selling the house you currently live in are you?" Aelita began to worry that Alex may leave her.

"If you had asked me that question a week ago, I would have said yes I was going to sell it once the school year ended, but with fact that I now have a mate." Alex went quite for a few thinking things over. "I'm not sure at all what I'm going to do now." Now that he thought about, his life had just gotten very complicated compared to what it had been.

It used to be very simple. Pick a school based on what the classes it had versus location and build a house in the area over the school year. During the year, he'd learn as much as he could about his past and as a hobby, explore any nearby ruins. At the end of the school year, sell the house to raise the funds needed to repeat the process until he had the answers he was looking for. Now, he wasn't just thinking about himself, but he had to include his mate into his life.

"I hope you'll stay." Aelita once again rested her head on his shoulder.

"I'll stay. This is going to be a big change for me though. You know that right." Alex told as the last golden rays of sunlight faded from view.

"What's going to be a big change?" Aelita asked.

"I'm used to spending weeks alone in the house. I'm used to the quite and the solitude of living my life as I have." Alex informed her. "Sharing a room with someone and waking up to see their face there with me in the same room is not something I do often."

"You'll get used to it sooner or later." Aelita snuggled closer to him.

"Later most likely then sooner." Alex sighed.

"What? You mean that you would rather go to bed by yourself without your mate? You'd like to wake up alone then have me there to greet you." Aelita asked getting off his shoulder just seconds after she had gotten comfortable.

"Its not that, it's just going to be a change for me. That's all." Alex looked at her unaware of plan she was quickly formulating.

"Perhaps I should show what it is like to go to bed with your mate." Aelita moved in close to Alex, one hand on his pants, the other on his face pulling them together. She closed her lips over his in deep passionate kiss then pulled back some. "But if you'd rather go to bed by yourself, that's fine with me." Aelita could already feel a slight bulge forming in Alex's pants.

"I just said it would take some getting used to. I never said I wanted to go to sleep alone." Alex stated.

"Can you prove that?" Aelita asked turning her head some lifting one ear straight up to catch his answer.

"I believe I can." Alex raised his head in confidence that he could.

"Then show me." Aelita got up moved back over to where the sleeping bag was next to the fire.

"Alright I will." Alex got up and gave chase taking a seat next to Aelita on the sleeping bag.

"Alright, show me. How can you prove me wrong?" Alex moved in this time. He knew he had been setup now that he could see that she wanted him to take the lead. Alex stood there for just a second before he moved in and kissed her, lightly at first. He wrapped one arm around her waist and the other held her head. He knew it was little old and he got the idea form a movie he had seen before, but he had no idea where to begin.

Aelita fought the urge to kiss him back. She wanted to tease him for a bit, have some fun with him before they mated again. Alex broke the kiss and looked into her eyes. "That was a good start." She said lightly turning away from just a bit.

"A good start? Come on, I'm new to this whole thing." Alex told her.

"You'll just have to do a bit better." Aelita teased him adverting her gaze trying not to look him in the eye so that he wouldn't pick up so quickly on her game.

"Fine, then how about this?" Alex moved in again. This time he wrapped his arms around her back drawing them as close as possible to him, her breasts placed firmly against his chest as he once again kissed her. While he kissed, she reach back and prepared to removed his shirt. The kiss ended and as he backed up some, she quickly jerked up on the back of his shirt pulling it right off him. "Hey." Alex was annoyed by her attack on his shirt, but he finally got a look into her eyes. "You're having fin with this aren't you." Alex asked finally realizing that this was nothing but a game to tease him for now.

"What makes you say that?" She asked holding his shirt behind her back as she leaned forward some.

"So it's a game huh?" Alex raised his head to one side. "I think I beat this."

"Can you?" She leaned forward a bit more, the angle that she was leaning just barely gave Alex a view what lay behind the fabric of her shirt.

"Yes I can." Alex moved in and kissed her again, but this time he held on to her head some as he pulled her back. She was trying her hardest not to kiss him back and didn't realize that she was beginning to lean too far forward. She began to fall forward, but Alex caught her in his arms and gently set her down on the sleeping bag. He took a spot behind her and began to message her shoulders.

"That was cheap shot, setting me up like that." She said as she relaxed quickly under his touch.

"No lower then the game you started." Alex replied. Slowly one of his hands moved down her chest before it had found its mark. Taking a rather daring and direct move on his part, he gently grabbed and began massaging Aelita's breasts in his hands inciting pleasant moans from her.

It took Aelita a few tries to say it under the work of Alex's gentle yet firm hands, but she finally managed to get out the words, "Now this is low."

"I'm just attempting to play the game you wanted me to." Alex stopped for a sec. "And I think I'm winning."

"For being new at this, you're pretty good." Aelita complemented him.

"I may be new to romance, but I've done a lot of studying comparing my biology to recorded mutations found the books I read. While I was at it, I found out quite a bit about the basic body of an Absol like yourself." Alex informed her moving his hands down her back. "For instance, did you know that I can get quite the reaction from doing this?" With one finger, Alex gently poked a spot right next to her left shoulder blade causing Aelita to completely relax. He quickly focused his efforts to the sides of her shoulder blades causing her to practically melt in his arms.

"That's not playing fair." Aelita said as she leaned back further into Alex's arms.

"As a hunter, I have to aim for the weakest spot so I can take out my prey quickly." Alex once again took another risky move and moved his hand down to Aelita's pants and undid the button the kept them around her waist.

Aelita gently grabbed his hand knowing what he was up to. "You're taking a lot of risks here." She teased him moving his hand away from her and standing up again taking off her shirt in the process. She set her shirt on top of Alex's which was now lying on top of the hiking pack. Since it was just the two of them, Aelita had decided against wearing a bra today. She had told Alex that it just messed with fur a bit and of course, he didn't think anything of it at that time.

"I'll get the hang of this eventually." Alex stood up with her and kissed her again. Seeing that Alex could tease her just as much as she had teased him, she decided that she had her fun. She was ready now and she knew he was as well feeling the bulge in his pants poking at her stomach a bit. Aelita's hands moved down and began to work on Alex's pants. They were off soon enough leaving him in just his boxers. Seeing as how her pants had already been undone, they slid off easily and joined the pile that was growing on top of the smaller hiking pack. The fired seemed to burn brighter and hotter providing the warmth for the entire room. Embers that had fallen off the burning limbs seemed to have ignited some sort of old fuel source still left at the bottom of the pit.

Aelita lay down with Alex beside her. As she lay there, she began to pull down the only remaining clothing on her body. Alex copied her actions as he discarded his bowers allowing his member to stand unhindered by the fabric of clothing. Aelita spread her legs nodding her head giving him the go ahead to make love to her. Alex leaned down over her as she helped guide his member to her entrance. Alex pushed in gently, parting her folds as he entered her. Aelita wrapped her legs around Alex and pulled him closer until their lips touched again.

Aelita felt herself take in more and more of her lover until at last, she had taken him in completely. She could just barely feel his rod touching her cervix and it felt wonderful to say the least. Alex pulled out some before pushing back in. He watched as Aelita's small breast bounced slightly each time her hilted her. He leaned in and began to lick her neck trying something new. Aelita wrapped her arms around his neck holding him close to her. Alex sped up his pace some, but not much. He was going to make this last as long as he could. He could fell Aelita's tails wrapping around one of his legs holding them together making sure he could not dismount her even if he wanted to.

Placing a hand over each of her breasts, Alex mimicked the same action he had done with her pussy before. Aelita once again felt the light of vibrations in her breasts now messaging and stimulating her body. She was in pure heaven, purring with Alex mating her. It was like a dream. To her, there was no outside world, there was just here and now, herself and her lover.

Alex could feel everything in her body by connecting his spirit energy to Aelita. He could feel her love and pleasure as he spirit energy spread through her. Without realizing what he was doing, his eyes began to give off the lightest of green glows. He could feel her heart beat, her pulse, even her spirit energy that all creatures had to some degree. Like the tides ebb and flow, he pulled out and then pushed back into his love, showing her just how much he loved her. He mouth found her neck and he subconsciously drew out his fangs hidden beneath his upper. Ever so gently, his fang pierced Aelita's necking marking her forever as his own. Alex carefully pulled his fangs out once again hiding them behind his upper lips as he kissed her.

The storm was once again picking up outside, but neither of them cared to notice.

Aelita was first to climax under Alex's pleasurable touch, but he was still going. Her inner walls tightened around him trying to milk him off the seed it Aelita so desperately wanted. Alex removed one hand from her chest and held her head kissing her deeply yet again. Alex did not slow down one bit during this, but rather he sped up again. Aelita was unable to control herself as Alex continued to pump into her. She climaxed for a second time coating Alex's member once again with her juices. As her pussy clamped down around him again, this time it worked even harder to milk Alex and it worked. Alex could not hold out any longer and hilted himself into her shooting his seed straight into her womb.

They two of them lay there unable to do anything else. Alex rolled over so that Aelita was resting on his chest. He grabbed a side of the sleeping bag and covered them both as they lay there once again drifting away from consciousness.

xXx

End notes: I've spent the better part of two days arguing with myself over this chapter and second guessing the work I put into it. Hopefully, it has come better then it looked to my second guessing eyes. I'll be taking a break for a short while, but expect to be back and writing again soon.


	3. Chapter 3

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:  
-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.  
xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.  
(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

xXx

Chapter 3

The sun filtered into the room through any available space. There wasn't much light, but there was still enough to see by. Alex and Aelita were sleeping wrapped up in the sleeping beg which covered them both. Their cloths still remained piled on top of the backpack. Alex was the first to stir as Aelita had shifted her position upon him. He smiled upon seeing her face. Perhaps sleeping with her at his side was not something that would take long to get used to at all. He looked around searching for any unwanted guests. A quick scan of the room had shown him the immediate area was void of any living creature. He gently shook Aelita and upon seeing how deeply asleep she was, he carefully crawled out from under her. He made sure to leave her wrapped up in the sleeping bag as he got dressed. He thought about going to get some berries for breakfast but decided against it. If Aelita should wake without Alex around with the fact that she was still undressed, there would be one hell of argument for him when he returned. Searching his smaller hiking pack, he found nothing to eat, but he did find something else.

He opened his cellphone to check the weather like he always did almost every morning and found one missed call. He decided to play it now and was greatly surprised by the voice of the message.

"Alex, I know your probably sleeping right now, but I've got some good news." Alex recognized the voice in seconds. It belonged to an older male in his sixties as it was very deep. There was a just barely noticeable growling in the voice that served to confirm the message was from Johnson. "I found some ruins a little to the north of Kartonu City about a half a day's hike on foot. I can arrange for a ride for you to get up here on… where is that calendar at now." There was a slight pause in the message and Alex could hear the rustling of paper in the background. "Ah yes, I can get you a ride up here at the end of the week. Perfect time to do explore the ruins during the next week long vacation the schools are having. If you have you want to bring a guest with you, then let me know. I've already undergone the paperwork to see to it that we are the first to explore the ruins. I really think you're going like this site. Anyway, contact me sometime between Monday and Thursday this week to let me know if you're up for another exploration." Alex heard the sound something falling apart in the background. "Oh crap. Gotta go." The message ended with the time stamp, 2:03 AM.

"Alright, that was weird. What has he gotten into this time." Alex checked the weather, which indicated there were still clouds in the area that could bring rain. Sighing, he put his phone back on the clip and attached it to his pants. All there was to do now was wait for Aelita to wake.

--

It took a short while, but Aelita finally began to move. She got up into a sitting position, the sleeping falling down her sides to her waist exposing her naked chest to the world. Alex sat there as she yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Morning." Aelita slowly got up and hugged Alex.

"You may want to put some clothes on." Alex reminded her to which she blushed and walked over to where Alex had left her clothing. Once dressed, Alex packed up the bag and prepared to leave. "The sooner we get back to the cave, the sooner we can start to collect berries for breakfast."

Alex lead the way back to the cave where to their surprise, found a sleeping Suicune with an egg by her side. Alex just scratched his in confusion as the sleeping Pokemon lay there. "I could have sworn she ran off in the other direction."

"I guess not." Aelita replied.

"Let's leave her be for now. If she's still here after we get back with breakfast, we'll wake her." Alex proposed as he slowly entered the cave and set the small backpack down only taking a small sack with him.

With the sack in hand, Alex and Aelita left the Suicune to sleep with her egg.

The two of them had returned to the lake and in a short time had gathered a large variety of berries. On their way back, the rain once again began to pick up although it was nothing like it was yesterday. This time, it was just a light rain. "Okay, I am really starting to think coming out here was a bad idea. This is not what I had planned for a weekend off of school." Alex sighed, his head hung down just a bit.

"I'm happy to spend it with you though." Aelita told him as they returned to the cave. To their surprise, Suicune was still there and wide wake.

She nearly jumped them when they tried to enter, but quickly apologized. "I am sorry." She bowed her head. "I thought you were some predator looking for a meal."

"We did come here to eat, but not your egg." Alex held up the bag of berries for Suicune to see. "I'm actually quite surprised to see you. I thought you ran off in the other direction."

"I was unable to find anything on the northern side of mountain. I remembered this cave from when I was looking for a place to lay my egg and with the storm coming, I didn't want to risk falling." Suicune explained as she curled up around her egg again.

"It's alright. You're welcome to stay here as long as you need. We'll be leaving to return to my house later today." Alex told her as he opened the bag. Suicune eyed the bag.

"If you want some just ask." Aelita said as she took a seat beside Alex who had decided to rest against the wall.

"I thank you." Suicune slowly got up and walked over next to them.

"We have plenty. Just take whatever ones you like." Alex told her as he spread the berries out for her see.

"It's not that often that others shown me this much kindness. Many try to capture me for various reasons." Suicune told them as she rolled the berries around some with her paw looking for the ripest ones.

"Sounds like you've had a rough life." Aelita picked up a few Oran berries and ate them slowly.

"It is nothing that should worry you." Suicune found that the selection before her was filled with ripe berries and slowly took a few into her mouth before returning to her egg.

"If you don't wish talk of the past then that is your choice." Alex picked a few berries. A small cracking noise caught the attention of the three as the egg started to shift some.

"It's hatching." Aelita cheered.

The egg slowly started to crack in a few places. As the seconds passed, more and more cracks became visible on the egg's surface. Suicune moved in closer ready greet her pup into the world as the egg finally began to fall a part. At first, it was just a small hole with a little blue nose sticking out. Sooner after, the hole grew is size as more baby Suicune made it out of its egg. She was only a little under a foot tall and unlike her mother, she had very short hair rather then the large amount that covered most of her mother's back. Suicune began to nuzzle her pup showing that she was perfectly all right.

Aelita inched forward a bit raising her hand hoping to pet the newborn. "Hello there." The newborn Suicune ran to the other side of her mother out of fear. Aelita backed up with a worried look on her face.

"It's a newborn, Aelita. I don't expect the little one to greet anyone but her mother without fear right now." Alex remained sitting against the wall.

As if just to prove Alex wrong, the baby Suicune saw Alex and looked at him with a slightly questioning look. Alex once again took out his phone checking the weather again to see if the break in the storm would last long enough for him to get down the mountain. Slowly, she crept out from behind her mother and made her way toward Alex. Alex was too busy to notice her until she grabbed his phone and jumped back.

"Hey, you twit. Give that back." Alex was still sitting down and leaned forward trying to grab his phone. He leaned to far forward and fell onto his face. Aelita burst out laughing while the mother Suicune held back a laugh. The baby Suicune got down on her stomach, her front legs inches out of Alex's reach with his phone in her mouth.

"I think she likes you." The mother Suicune tried to keep a straight face.

"So, what's her name?" Alex asked he got up.

"I shall name her Julian, after my sister who died long ago." The mother Suicune told them as she walked over to her pup.

"While we're on the topic of names, what is your name?" Aelita asked taking a seat beside Alex.

"I am Aurora." Aurora bowed her head.

"Aurora, could you perhaps get my phone back. It has almost my entire set of I.D. and registry papers saved on it." Alex asked kindly with an annoyed look on his face.

"Julian, may I have that?" Aurora looked down at her pup who reluctantly surrendered the phone to her mother. Aurora handed it to Alex gently.

"Thanks." Alex took a quick look at it again realizing the break in the storm would only last a hour, two at most before a second wave of clouds that had jus appeared on the edge of the screen would show up. "Hey Aelita. I hate to say this, but we only have a short break in this storm. We need to leave now or we may not get down the mountain in time."

"Then we had better move fast. If I miss a day of school because we got stuck up here, my father wouldn't wait to get on you about it." Aelita sighed.

"I'm more worried about how he'll react to the fact that we're mates." Alex said as he packed what few things there were to pack up. "Oh, Aurora, before we go, I just want to tell you that you can use this cave as long as you need to. I only show up here maybe once or twice a month on the weekends."

"I am in need to offer my thanks to you again, Alex. If there is something I can do, please let me know. With Julian's birth, I won't be going far for a while." Aurora took a seat next to her pup who had found the berries.

"There's not much you can do for me unless you've seen another of my kind." Alex told her.

"Another of your kind? No, I do believe that you are the only one evolved human I have seen in my many years." Aurora told them.

"Well, if you happen to hear of another of my kind, please tell me about it. I live in cave similar to this on southern end of the mountain. Until we meet again, farewell." With these parting words, Alex and Aelita left. Alex once again had the hiking pack and led the way back down the same path they had used to get there.

--

It took a little longer to get back to cliffside down to the base of the mountain do to some fallen branches and wet terrain. Once at the pack of vines, Aelita climbed down first without slipping thanks to her claws. When it came time for Alex to climb down, he grabbed the thickest vine he could wrap his hand around and walked himself down. About halfway down, the rocks under feet shifted and he lost his foot.

"Alex!" Aelita say Alex hanging by just one arm. Alex grabbed another vine to balance himself while he got his footing on the cliffside back. Once down, Aelita grabbed him tightly.

"Don't do that. You scared me." Aelita cried out.

"I scared myself on that." Alex breathing was a bit hard, but that was understandable.

Not a minute after Alex had gotten off the cliffside and began to last part of the walk to back to his house the rain picked up. It came down fast and hard and Alex had to put an arm over his eyes to keep the rain out. What would have been a ten minute walk turned into a three minute run as Aelita took off with Alex being partially dragged behind at the first bolt of lighting.

Alex opened the door and Aelita bolted inside as another strike of thunder sounded. Both of them were soaking wet and Alex headed to the bathroom to grab some towels. The two of them then headed to bedroom to dry off and change clothes.

"Hmm." Alex looked at the wall beside the dresser in the corner of the room as he dried off.

"What is it, Alex? What are you thinking now?" Aelita asked as she took off her pants setting them on a towel Alex had laid down just for the wet clothes.

"I'm thinking I could use a closet." Alex replied as he took off his shirt.

"Are you sure you can use that attack again so soon? Chansey told you to take it easy." Aelita questioned as her shirt came off.

"Making a large room is hard on me. But making a small closet doesn't do much other the an immediate drain on energy." Alex informed her removing his pants and boxers adding them to the pile of wet clothes.

"Don't strain yourself. I don't want you to head back to the Pokemon Center. Especially not in this weather." Aelita removed her panties and began to dry off.

"True. I'll give ya that point." Alex finished drying off first as he had not fur for the water to collect in. He put on a fresh dry pair of boxers and then got dressed in his usual T-shirt and shorts.

It took Aelita a minute, but once she got her fur dry, she got dressed while Alex went to living room to watch the storm from the windows. She came out wearing a pair of long blue pants and a blue top. She took a seat of on the couch. Another strike of thunder sounded outside so close that it may as well have been on top of them. The room did not shake however as it had been built into the cliffside. Aelita cried out scared by the storm.

Alex turned wearing a necklace that Aelita had never seen before. The three gemstones shined brightly in the storm. The ruby fang in the middle with the pair of teardrop sapphires caught Aelita's eyes quickly as Alex hurried over to the couch to comfort his mate. "It's alright. It will take a lot more then a storm the do anything to this house." Alex wrapped his arm around her.

"Alex? Where did you get that necklace? I've never seen it before." Aelita curled up against him eyeing the necklace around Alex's neck.

"This is the only clue I have to who I am. I prefer to keep it a secret from most because I had it appraised for a little over two million credits." Alex told here.

"Two million?" Aelita looked at him questioningly thinking he was lying about the number he gave her.

"That's right. The ruby fang center stone is some of the highest quality Star Ruby around and has no impurities in it. As for the two sapphire tears, the guy said that they were made of very rare type of sapphire called Lunar Tears. Funny thing is that I only went to that Imperial Crafters company to see if I could get some answers about it." Alex told her. "I thought that since it was a very well crafted necklace, maybe I could get some clues about where it was made which could possibly point me to my family. I didn't get any answers about who made it unfortunately." Alex looked down as the necklace.

"You mean to tell me that you got this appraised at Imperial Crafters?" Aelita was shocked. The company known as Imperial Crafters was the best of the best in jewelry, hand tools, construction, and they even had a hand in the medical and engineering markets. Their logo of a pair of hammers acting as an X on top of a large diamond was a common sight in any major city.

"Well, Johnson took me there and was the one who had it appraised. I just went there to ask some questions about it." Alex rested his arm firmly, but gently over her shoulders as another strike of thunder sounded rattling the windows some.

"Tell me about Johnson." Aelita asked quickly trying to take her mind off the storm.

"Why don't we head to bedroom. There are no windows in there and it will hopefully be quieter." Alex offered. Aelita got up with Alex by her side. Together, they walked to bedroom.

"Hold on for a second." Alex opened up the bottom of the dresser and this time pulled out a bunch of metal bars. He assembled them into a pair of frames used to hold hammocks when there were no posts or other such objects around. He placed them side by side and using a few plastic ties bound them together. He then placed them in the middle of the room leaving more then enough room on each side to walk around. He took down the hammocks off the walls and put them on the frames and after a second to thinking, he over lapped them a bit and using a few more plastic ties, he tied them together. He did this in such a way that they would no longer swing from side to side, but instead acted as a makeshift bed that was held in place.

"Here we go." Alex said taking a seat in the center of the make shift bed. It was only about four feet from one side of it to the other and had a slight dip in the middle, but Alex made sure that it would hold them both. He motioned for Aelita to join him as yet another strike of thunder sounded. Aelita practically jumped into the bed. "Please be a bit more careful."

"Sorry." Aelita snuggled up to Ales resting the side of her head on his chest wrapping one leg around him.

"Now you wanted to hear about Johnson. Well for starters, he's a shiny Umbreon just shorter then I am. He had blue rings instead of the yellow ones like others of his kind." Alex began. "I never seen him without his tan jacket and cargo shorts. I swear he looks like an archeologist rather then an explorer in them. Anyway, he is a big time explorer. His full name is William Johnson Yelstien."

"William Yelstien? How did you get him to help you?" Aelita asked. William Yelstien was almost as famous as Imperial Crafters, but rarely talked to anyone other then those on his payroll. You'd be lucky to get to get an interview. The only other people who met with him on regular basis were the museums that purchased his finds.

"Now that is a story worth telling." Alex exclaimed. "It started about a week after I left that family of Nidoking and Nidoqueen."

"The Halls." Aelita knew who they were as Alex had told her about them, but he rarely ever called them by name.

"Yes them. I had been on my own for about a week and my skills as a hunter was what kept me alive. I knew how to track and trap and find shelter. It was around noon in forest and I was tracking a few feral Vulpix who had taken my rabbit when the ground beneath me collapsed sending me down the newly formed hole into some sort of catacombs. My walking stick got caught on the way down between the rocks on the way down, which was what kept my alive. If not for my walking stick, I would have hit a sword that was sticking up out of a skeleton's chest down there. Even at my absolute best, a sword through my chest would have killed me in a most painful and gruesome fashion." Alex told her.

"That would have hurt. I guess it was a lucky thing you had you're walking stick." Aelita cringed at the thought of being impaled like that.

"The only thing I managed to keep on that fall was my necklace." Alex put a hand on the necklace he wore. "I lost my bow, quiver, and knife on that fall. Anyway, I hung tightly onto my walking stick and swung myself back and forth until I knew I wasn't going to get hit by that sword and only then did I let go. I landed a few feet down the hallway I was in. There was very little light down the hall, but as I knew I couldn't go back up, I took my chances. My only thought at the time was, how bad could it be. I didn't hadn't even traveled a few feet and nearly had a heart attack." Alex told her.

"What happened?" Aelita asked wrapping an arm around Alex.

"Another skeleton fell off the wall and landed on me. I ran, tripped, and fell flat on my face. I flipped over to see the pile of bones covered in spider webs and almost took on summoned my spirit form out of fear." Alex laughed.

"You were actually truly scared of something. That's something I never thought I would hear." Aelita was in deed shocked. In all the time she had known him, he had never shown fear. He had shown that he had been worried about a few things, but never scared.

"Well, it took me a minute just to get back on my feet and then a few more minutes just to work up the nerve to move on. What made it worse for me was the fact that I knew I could talk on Feral Ursaring if I had to and win but that place scared me to no end. Finally, after I started moving again, I heard some screaming. Someone was shouting for help. I ran down the halls carefully when I came up Johnson. He had fallen down into a pit trap with no way out. I peaked my head over and he asked me to tied a rope onto something so that he could climb out." Alex continued.

"So, that's how you met him." Aelita suddenly grabbed tightly onto Alex as the thunder sounded again.

"Hey, take it easy, Aelita. We're perfectly safe here." Alex comforted here.

"Sorry, just continue with your story." Aelita said as she loosened her grip.

"Alright. Well, I managed to tie the rope off to a stone and he climbed out. Together, we made our way out. After seeing how scared I was at first, he suggested that we exchange stories to help calm me nerves. After a few hours of walking, we sat down for a snack. He had several energy bars in his pack and lots of water. Apparently, he had planned on being down there for a day or two. Anyway, I told him almost everything I've told you about my past and he seemed to take an interest in me. We spent three days in those catacombs. Those were the three most terrifying days of my life." Alex told her.

"What made it so terrifying?" Aelita asked.

"We faced all sorts of traps, puzzles, and even a few Feral Pokemon just to get out. The Feral Pokemon were the easy part." Alex told her recalling the three days he spent down there. "There were collapsing floors, spike pits, poison darts. I might as well have stepped into an adventure story. The only thing we really didn't face off with was a magical monster although we came pretty close that sleeping Dragonite we accidentally woke up. Never again have I seen such a pissed off Pokemon." Alex told her. "We lived off energy bars and limited water, made our past countless traps, and fended off a small army of Feral Pokemon. I swear I cheated death a number of times down there with all those close-calls I had while I was down there." Alex shook some thinking about a few of the close calls he had.

"That must have been awful having to go through all that fighting for you lives." Aelita couldn't imagine having to go through that.

"After that three day escape from that place, Johnson offered to help me find out who I was. Since I helped him, he agreed to help me. He put me back in school and paid for it for the first year. It was during that summer that I figured that I could build houses like this one. Took me roughly a year to build the first one, but I paid back Johnson half of what he paid for my schooling and had enough left over to pay for school last year. I was surprised how much I was offered for the house. Of course, one of Johnson's employees helped with the electrical and water to get the place sold after an offer was made. Since that year, I've lived a simple life. I would have Johnson help me pick out a good location and school. I'd build a house there over the school year and then sell it at the end of the school year moving to the next place and sta" Alex was cut short when Aelita tightly grabbed onto him as the house shook after another loud boom followed by an even louder crash. "What the. Aelita wait here." Alex jumped off the makeshift bed and ran to the living room.

There in front of the windows were a few very large boulders that had been dislodged from a higher point in the cliff. The ceiling seemed perfect fine, so Alex didn't worry too much. "I'll have to check that when the storm passes if there is enough light out." Alex slowly returned to find Aelita waiting there impatiently for him to return. No sooner had he laid back down, she once again curled up on him.

"What happened?" She asked, bits of fear in her voice.

"My guess is that a upper part of the cliff gave way. We're perfectly fine here." Alex wrapped his arms around her.

"Please don't leave me alone." Aelita said as she looked out the door.

"I won't. I'll stay here with you." Alex said hoping to calm Aelita down. The storm outside seemed to grow even worse as Alex felt his back pocket vibrate indicating his cellphone was detecting worse weather to come. Alex knew at this point, it wasn't just a storm, but could be a tropical on that rolled from the ocean. This was the time of year to get sudden storms. He could already image the rain at the city.

xXx

The rest of the day was spent mostly laying on the makeshift expect for when Alex had went to kitchen to make supper. They fell asleep as the storm continued to rage on into the night.

Alex awoke the next morning to the sounds of his cellphone's alarm with Aelita resting there against him.

He moved her a bit to get up as he went to start his morning ritual. He began his daily routine like any other day with quick shower. After the shower, he got dressed in a pair of shorts and a T-shirt, his normal choice of clothing and started on breakfast.

Aelita woke to the smell of bacon in the air as she stirred. Slowly, she rose and got dressed in long pants and a tank top.

As Aelita made it to the living room, Alex walked out with a pair of plates in his hands. Each one had a small serving of bacon, just two strips and both had twelve Oran berries on them. "Breakfast is ready."

The two of them ate quietly. Once done, Alex gathered up a few pens in his pocket before putting on his boots. Once he was ready, Aelita grabbed a small pouch, which carried what few things she needed to take to the school with her including her I.D. card. Both of them would their I.D.s today as their science class was having a quick trip out to a forest for a project. The last thing Alex grabbed was his necklace, which he tucked away under his shirt so no one would see it.

"We leave once your ready." Alex informed Aelita as she put her shoes on.

"Then let's go." Aelita suppressed a small yawn.

--

It was quick trip to the school. Most of the light had come from street lamps as the sun had now yet risen, but was due to make its appearance soon.

The two arrived at the school just as the Principal Luna Hope, a very kind, but strict Gardevoir showed up.

"I'm used to seeing you here as I walk in Alex, but not Aelita." Luna opened the door for the three of them to enter.

"My father was called off on business again." Aelita informed her.

"Very well. I assume since the two of you are arriving together, that you are staying with Alex then." Luna moved toward a nearby staircase.

"That is correct." Alex told her as he made his way to library with Aelita at his side.

Alex opened the door and the Librarian, a Roserade by the name of Sara greeted Alex. "I already have you're book out and ready." Sara pulled out a book labeled The History of the Kralion Empire.

"This has become routine hasn't it, Sara." Alex took the book.

"Kralion Empire? That's a strange choice in reading material." Aelita commented upon seeing the book.

"I've found a few reasons to think that Emperor Li Yung was the same as I am." Alex took a seat and began to read waiting for school to begin. Aelita had chosen an old book that she had read before. The Tales of the Whispering Swordsman, it was a good book and three year best seller. Many schools had purchased several copies as the story had elements of all sorts of writing to it. Most often, the book was given to sophomores as a summer reading story.

--

Time passed quickly as Alex closed his book. He checked his phone for the time and saw that the bus would be arriving soon. Alex alerted Aelita to the time as she closed the book. They shared a few classes at the High School, namely first period Biology, third period, ninth period Gym.

Alex stopped by his locker long enough to grab a notebook out from the many others that were in locker. For that matter, that was all that was in his locker besides textbooks. Still, the one notebook was all that he was going to need on the trip. He accompanied Aelita to her locker, which was filled with her books and a few other odds and ends. After grabbing her notebook, she closed her locker. Students had already began to fill the halls. Many of them were just arriving signaling that classes would start soon. Alex and Aelita headed to the bus stop where they awaited the rest of the Biology classes to join them.

The rest of the classes showed up quickly as three large yellows buses pulled up. Finally, the six teachers in charge of the trip showed up. There was the fairly large Charizard, Mr. Scales, the Heracross, Miss Decon, the younger Vileplume, Miss Nectar, and the Pincer, Mister Horns. All four of them were the science teachers for the school. Accompanying them were Luna Hope, the principal, and a Weavile by the name of Mister Thorn who was one of the school's Phys. Ed. Teachers.

"Okay, everyone take out your I.D. You'll need it to get on the bus." Miss Decon shouted. Everyone pulled out their I.D. as they boarded. In all, there was a total of 120 students plus the six teachers going on this trip.

As always, Alex went straight for the back of the bus with Aelita by his side. While Alex was ignored, Aelita was offered a number of seats. She declined them all to be with her mate though, not that anyone knew she had picked a mate.

The teachers explained what was expected of them on the trip. Everyone was to split into groups of four and document the Dragon type Feral Pokemon in the area during the Migration. All the groups were given a camera to take photos of a few of the dragons they found. The data they collected today would be used in a later project, so each group was to gather as much information as possible.

The buses were headed to the Suicune Falls. Everyone one looked on at the falls. This side of the mountain was a preserved area and the school had to get special permission to come here but being as well respected as the school was, it was easy. Many of the students looked on at the falls as this was there first time here. The Suicune falls consisted of two separate waterfalls. The one on the right was by far larger almost twice as big as the one on the left, but was much lower to the ground. The one on the left however was rougher compared to the gentle flow of the one the right. A dense forest lined the lake which the falls fed. It wasn't hard to spot several Feral Pokemon on the sides of the lake resting, playing or feasting on the numerous berries that riddled the area. Two rivers were connected to lake. The larger one flowed away from the lake heading west. The other river, which was to the north of the lake, fed into the lake.

"Break off into groups of four. Remember that you have four hours before lunch will be served. Make the most of your time. Also, it may be wise to keep well-balanced teams just in case." Mister Scales alerted the students.

Alex and Aelita of course choose to stick with each other and were welcomed by a pair of Aelita's friends, a Zangoose by the name of Steve and a Gallade by the name of Victor.

"Alex, this is Steve. He's leads the Explorers Club." Aelita pointed to the Zangoose.

"Nice to meet ya." Steve nodded his head.

"And this is Victor. He's the head of the Wrestling Team." She motioned toward the Gallade.

"So, who's the human?" Victor asked.

"Evolved human." Alex corrected him. "And my name is Alex." Alex bowed his head.

"Alright, let's get this over with." Steve headed towards the forest.

"I wouldn't got that way." Alex spoke up and then pointed to the lake. "I'd stick closer to the lake. There may be more feral Pokemon, but the larger predators live in the woods to the south and south east."

"Hmp. You sound like you've been here." Victor stared at Alex.

"My house is on the mountain a short ways to the west." Alex informed them. "Personally, I think it would be better to stick by the water." Alex walked off towards the shore line with Aelita by his side."

"She doesn't really trust him that much does she?" Victor asked Steve.

"Alex does have the highest grade in the class. In all of his classes for that matter. Besides, they've been friends since last year, I think." Steve said as he moved to catch up.

--

Alex lead to the group to river flowing out of the lake and after a short time of looking, they found a group of several Dragonite and pair of infant Dratini.

They kept their distance not trying to startle the dragons that were eating berries from the many bushes around them. As much as Victor hated to admit it, Alex was right about where to find the dragons.

A few hours passed and nothing big happened until another group joined them.

A pair of Scyther, both male, a female Froslass, and male Charmeleon walked up to them.

"Aelita? You still hanging around with that human." The Froslass spoke up while one of the Scyther walked over to where Steve was. He joined Steve in documenting the Dragons they were watching. The other one stood by the Froslass.

The Charmeleon walked over to where the Froslass was. "How you can hang you with human when you can have me is beyond crazy." The Charmeleon had a large smile on his face.

"I wouldn't think of going out with some like you. You're almost as bad as Michael." Aelita calmly replied.

"What's so special about a human anyway. Sure a few of them have brains, but they can't do much of anything else." The Scyther next to the Froslass stated.

"For starters, Alex is an evolved human." Aelita was starting to get annoyed by the second group who caught up with them.

"My mistake, but I thought human's didn't evolve." The Froslass smiled. "And I still don't. I think he just made the whole thing up."

"Now is not the time to argue this." Steve spoke up just a little. "Wait until we've left the dragons alone. We don't want to startle them."

"I'm with Steve on that." Alex said as he took another picture with one hand writing things down in his notebook with his free hand.

"Just ditch the scum." Froslass raised her voice. "He's not even worth the effort."

"I agree. I'll tell ya what. There's a dance coming up next week. I'll let you come as my date." The Charmeleon smiled.

"I'd rather go with my mate." Aelita turned him down. Almost everyone looked at her.

"Mate? When did you pick a mate?" The Charmeleon asked.

(Why don't I see this ending well.) Alex thought to himself. It was obvious that the dragons knew where they were by now. He had caught them looking over in his directions a few times to make sure he wasn't coming too close.

"I've chosen Alex to be my mate." Aelita walked over to Alex and put her arms around him as he turned.

"You picked a human to be your mate?" Charmeleon shouted.

"Quiet down. We can't risk startling the dragons." Alex warned them.

"You must be joking. You picked that thing as your mate." The Froslass couldn't believe it.

Alex turned his gaze from the Froslass and her crew and back to the dragons real fast.

"We had better move." Alex picked up things as Steve and the Scyther he was with already up and moving.

"Everyone drop the subject. The dragons don't like us being here." Steve said as he pointed toward where the Dragons were. Two of the larger Dragonite were slowly making their way to see what was going on.

"We can settle this later." The second Scyther put his arm on the Froslass's shoulder. "Right now, we need to move."

A cry from one the Dragonite sent both groups running. All of them knew that while if it was just a Dragonite or two, they would be fine and could fend the dragon off. However, with a whole pack right there, they had no chance. It was best to place it safe.

Alex's group ran back along the river while the other group ran into the woods. It took a minute, but everything turned out okay as the dragons left them to run off.

The rest of the day proved quite except for lunch where Aelita got bombed by an endless stream of questions from her other friends. Following Alex's example, she grabbed a few sandwiches and headed for the shoreline for some peace and quite. The second half of the field was pretty much free time for Alex's group as Alex alone had about three full pages of notes and shared them with the others. This even seemed to impress Victor who started to give him some respect.

The buses arrived back at the school just in time for school to let out. If not for Aelita, Alex would have spent another hour at the school to do some more studying, but with Aelita spending the week at his house, he left with the majority of the students.

Alex decided it would be best to stop by the hardware store to pick up the supplies he was unable to grab last Friday.

After picking up the box of parts Alex had ordered, they made their way back to his house.

As Alex opened the door, Alex's phone rang.

"Hello?" Alex asked as he walked into the house.

"It's about time this thing started working again." Mr. Kilter was on the other end. "Now where's my daughter." Alex and Aelita spent the better the an hour going over what had happened last Friday with Mr. Kilter before he had finally calmed down. They did not however tell him about their love for each other yet and kept the fact that they were now mates secret.

"Now that that is out of the way. I'm afraid that I have some bad news." Mr. Kilter explained. "As much as I want to be there for your birthday, Aelita, my boss has ordered to head to the Kanto Region once I'm done here. I don't expect to be back until the end of the month."

Aelita's head dropped some. "It's alright." She sighed.

"Mr. Kilter. Would it be alright if Aelita was to join me on one of the ruin explorations with Johnson?" Alex asked.

"Johnson? You mean Yelstien right?" Mr. Kilter asked.

"Yes. I've got a message from him asking me to join him on an exploration of a new site a half a day's hike from Kartonu City. He's already stated that I could bring a friend if I wanted and he'll arrange for a ride." Alex told him which caught Aelita's attention.

"When would this happen?" Mr. Kilter asked.

"Next week during the week's vacation the schools are having." Alex told him.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with it. It's up to her I guess." Mr. Kilter nodded.

"Really. You mean I can come with you and Johnson." This seemed to cheer Aelita up a bit. "And we'll be able to stop in Kartonu City."

"I'll let Johnson know tomorrow that you'll joining us." Alex said.

"Aelita, there is an old hiking pack in my closet. You can use that to carry your things in. Anyway, I've got to go. This things is about to die again." Mr. Kilter said referring to his phone.

Alex closed his phone and Aelita gave him a great big kiss. "Thank you Alex. I've always wondered what it will be like on one of those explorations you've told me so much about."

"Come next week, you'll be going on one." Alex told her.

xXx

The week started off by passing along like most others, only word of Alex and Aelita being mates spread quickly. For the first time ever, people actually went so far as to seek out Alex. Everyone had asked him questions about how he managed to convince Aelita to be his mate. He ignored most of them, but he did not like the sudden boost in attention he got. By the end of Wednesday, he was fed up with it and finally told them to leave him alone. Aelita wasn't too surprised to hear about the sudden outburst Alex had given to those who bothered him. Except for the one outburst however, the week was calm.

--

As school ended on Friday, Alex waited by the main door of the school with Aelita by his side.

"What are we waiting out here for?" She asked.

"Not what, who and that who Bryan. He's a five foot Lairon who will be driving a green jeep covered in mud." Alex told her. "And he's the one who will be taking us out to meet Johnson. He's the youngest member of the crew with him only being nineteen. His uncle convinced Johnson to hire him when he got out of school a little over a year ago."

A few seconds passed before a muddy jeep up to school, its roof had been removed and had a tired mounted on the front. It was for off road travel, not city streets.

"Yo, Alex." A Larion stood up in the driver's seat. "Good to see ya mon."

"Bryan, it has been a while." Alex walked to the vehicle and pulled the passenger seat forward to let Aelita get in. "First stop, my house so me and Aelita can get our things."

"So, dis be da lady friend Johnson say you be bringin." The Lairon sat down, pulled out and took off down the road.

"My name is Aelita. It's nice to meet you." Aelita sat back against the slightly rough back seat.

"She be a good lookin lady. Wouldn't mind working with her at all, but she being a bit young for me." Bryan drove down the streets heading for the mountain where Alex's house was.

"Careful, Bryan." Alex warned him.

"I've already got a mate, thank you." Aelita declared.

"So, tell me who be da lucky mon to have ya." Bryan asked.

"Alex." Aelita responded. The jeep came to dead stop right out Alex's house.

"Alex? You mean dis Alex?" Bryan just looked at her as Alex got out.

"Yes, that Alex. We're mates." Aelita told Bryan.

"But he be being as anti-social as Johnson. How you get da girl, Alex?" Bryan raised his voice in disbelief.

"She picked me." Alex explained as he walked inside for a second. He came back out carrying to large hiking packs.

"Life no be treating me fair mon. I be looking for years without getting me a lady. You don't even look and ya get one. Dis not be right broda." Bryan complained.

Bryan talked most of the way to Kartonu City with Aelita. This was going to be her first time there.

Everyone knew about Kartonu City. It was the largest city in the entire Welforth Region. It was the heart of Welforth and was a very famous port city. On average, there were always two or three Cargo ships docked at any one time in the docks loading and unloading goods from around the world. It had ferries to all of the other Regions as well. If one was looking to buy something whether it is antique sword or top of the line car, Kartonu City was the place to go. One could buy all sorts of things there. The city was well over twenty-eight square miles if you included the docks and the privately owned farm in the northern of the city which grew all sorts of various grapes for the many wines which was one thing the city was known for. Kartonu City was also the headquarters for Imperial Crafters. One of the few things the city did not have was a casino, but they did have a large steamboat about half a mile off the coast that served as one.

The trip out to Kartonu City took until nightfall. The city was easily spotted though even in the dark. Finally, Bryan pulled up to finest hotel in the city located near the western entrance of the city called The Dragon's Den. The seventeen-story building towered over most of the other buildings and even had three separate pent houses in it, one for each of the major towers of the building. The bottom eleven floors were of a large circular design. It was the three towers that made it unique. Each one had the basic shape of Dragonair's head to it with the top two floors of each one serving as a pent house.

Alex already knew which pent house Johnson would be using. He walked inside Aelita at his side. The lobby was full of various people talking about whatever they felt like. A large pool in the middle of the room had a few Dratini in it, each one happy to be there as they played what appeared to be a game of tag with each other. Aelita couldn't believe that she was staying in the Dragon's Den for the night as she looked around.

Bryan led them to an elevator as Aelita looked around while she walked. Bryan already had a key card out for the pent house floor of the northern tower when he got in.

"If ya liked da ground floor little lady, wait til ya see da pent house." Bryan laughed.

"I guarantee you'll like this." Alex said as the elevator began to rise with its three passengers and their luggage.

The door opened to a most unusual sight. The room was huge and Aelita could easily make out that the two large windows in the room were the Dragonair's eyes. The room was mostly empty having a few chairs here and there. In corner of the room was female Mawile wearing a pink dress that was slightly town on one side. In between her and corner was a Sandslash holding its arm over its face. He wore a pair of jeans and that was it showing the scars across his chest.

"Alex." The Mawile ran over to greet him.

"What happened. I can't leave the two of ya alone any more can I?" Bryan asked as he walked in.

"He had it coming ripping my dress." The Mawile said. "And how are you today Alex?" The Mawile was a few inches taller then Alex and she leaned down just to look him in the eye.

"What are planning on doing with Alex?" Aelita asked.

"So, you must be Aelita." She turned to face the Absol.

"Aelita, this is Cheryl Domer." Alex introduced the Mawile. "She is in charge of medical treatment when out in the field, but she is also starting a modeling career on the side." Aelita looked up the Mawile. She had very fine figure. Slender legs, thin waist and fairly large breasts. He eyes seemed to glow. "And that over there is Justin Kilgorn. He is in charge of supplies and records."

"Nice to meet you, see ya later." Justin ran into the elevator quickly grabbing a shirt that was on of the chairs as soon as Alex, Aelita, Bryan were out.

"So, how are you doing today?" Cheryl asked again.

"I'm fine. " Alex stepped over to Aelita. "Just please stop treating me like I'm your boyfriend. How many times do I have to remind that we have no relation with each other."

"I can't help it. You're so fun to be with." Cheryl replied to which Aelita got a slightly angry look.

"I also have a mate." Alex told her.

"What, you with a mate?" Cheryl was stunned.

"That's right. Me and Alex are mates." Aelita said as she wrapped her arms around Alex.

"Well, I certainly didn't see that coming." Cheryl walked off.

"What was that about?" Aelita asked.

"Cheryl has it in her head that I like her and I don't know why." Alex replied.

A voice above them caught their attention. "Catch." Alex turned to look up and say a small gemstone coming at him. He reached out and grabbed it. There in his hand was a small sapphire in the same shape as on the ones on his necklace. Just to be sure, Alex pulled out the necklace from under his shirt. It was a perfect match.

"Where did you find this and did it have a twin?" Alex looked back up at the shiny Umbreon on the floor above him. The Umbreon wore a pair of tan cargo shorts and a white T-shirt. The rings on his body were a deep ocean blue instead yellow like others of his kind. He jumped the rail and landed softly in front of them.

"Found that by itself outside the new ruins. I'm just waiting on some last minute supplies I sent Andrew to get before we can head out there in a day or two." The Umbreon told them. "So, this is Aelita, your mate." The Umbreon looked over once and smiled. "I think this will last a long time. I guess I won't have to worry about that extra tent then, will I?"

"No, we're just fine sleeping together." Aelita told him.


	4. Chapter 4

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

xXx

Chapter 4

"So I assume I should give you a tour of the place. Or would you rather your mate give you the tour. He's been here plenty of times already." Johnson offered.

"I'll give her the tour." Alex informed Johnson. "We'll start with my room and drop off our things." Alex pointed down one of the halls leading out of the initial room of the pent house. The halls appeared to be void of any paintings or relics, but Aelita wasn't expecting what she found in Alex's room. Alex opened the wooden door to reveal a room even bigger then the one back at his place. The walls were covered with various pictures of items from all the sites he had been to. The large bed along one wall was huge and had full set of eight pillows and four different blankets and covers. Every flat surface in the room that could be used as a table was covered with so many old relics and books, Aelita wasn't even able to identify when half of the had come from. There was even a mini fridge in one corner and wall-mounted plasma TV that looked like it hadn't been used in ages. A large yellow envelope was lying on Alex's bed.

"It's not what I would call bedroom. More like my private study with a bed." Alex walked over to one door and opened it to reveal a small walk in closet. It was mostly empty, but there were still some things in it. Aelita laughed a bit at seeing the all out business suits and a pair of Tuxedos.

"I can't even image you in one of those." Aelita told Alex as he hung up the two hiking packs.

"Come on, we got a few more rooms to explore." Alex walked out with Aelita at his side.

The first room Alex showed to Aelita was the study.

"This is the most important room we have here." Alex began. There were four bookcases, all of which were filled with various books lined up by location and then by time period. There was a large table in the middle with what appeared to be a liquid surface. Unlike the small desks, it was void of all materials.

"What kind of table is this?" Aelita asked as she touched it and the surface rippled.

"This is a Liquid Projection Table." Alex walked over to the side where there was a small control panel. He pressed a few buttons and the liquid surface of the table shot up taking the appearance of the Dragon's Den Hotel. "This is where we meet before we go out to any site. We go all over all the rules, possible scenarios, and most importantly, safety procedures."

"I've never seen anything like this." Aelita was quite impressed by the table.

"There are only four of these in the world right now. Not very easy to build and ver expensive to make." Alex informed her. "Now then, the next stop is the kitchen." Alex turned to leave after resetting the table back to its neutral setting. Alex lead Aelita down the hall to kitchen was just as big as the one in his own house. The difference was that this kitchen was completely set up with a full set of counters, cabinets, two stoves, two fridges, and a small wine cabinet. "It's pretty much a fix it yourself set up. Since we all have mini fridges in our rooms, we keep any thing special that we don't want others to eat in them. Almost everything in here is fair game minus the wines. Those are for special occasions."

Up next was the dining room. A single large table was in the center of the room and a pair of buffet tables lined one wall.

The next stop was one of the three bathrooms. The shower was very similar to the one Alex had built in his house, but this one was just slightly bigger. The tub was about the size of the bed in Alex's room.

After that came the living area. Two plasma TVs, three full sized couches, a set of card tables, and various other things like board games and an entertainment center filled the room.

After about an hour tour, Aelita was pretty familiar with the place and rather jealous of Alex.

"You must enjoy coming out here." Aelita was surprised by the pent house to say the least. It was far better then she could have imagined.

"I hate the big city. This place never sleeps." Alex told her as they made it back to his room. "Now then, let's see what's in the envelope." Alex picked up the envelope off his bed and opened it. He poured the contents on the bed with a slight smile on his face. Two stacks of bills came out of the envelope with a letter.

Alex was very pleased with the letter. "Looks like I got a few thousand extra this month." Alex told Aelita.

"How did you get that?" Aelita asked as Alex put the two small stacks of bills in his pocket.

"Private collector paid my for an emerald I found in the last site I went to. The cool thing about Johnson is that he may take first pick on the prizes we find, but he does share with the crew." Alex told her. "And since I have some extra money this month, is there any place you'd like to go before it gets too late?"

"Really?" Aelita couldn't believe it. Alex had just offered to take her out into the city. What made it so much better was that he was willing to go into city when Aelita knew he would rather stay in the hotel.

"I may not like the city much, but I've got the basics down. I know most of the city by heart and got a GPS in my phone in case I get turned around." Alex informed her. "Call it an early birthday gift." Alex smiled as he grabbed a fancy wallet out of the nightstand and alerted Johnson of his plans before he headed to the elevator with Aelita.

--

Since Aelita didn't know where to start, Alex led her to one of the three shopping plazas in the city. Even though the sun had gone down, the city still teamed with life. Just as Alex had said, the city was still very active. Aelita was in constant awe by the sheer number of shops in the area ranging from jewelry stores, toyshops, and electronic shops to fancy restaurants, antique dealers, and even a movie theater.

"So, where to first?" Alex asked. They had stopped by a late night café to grab a drink before moving on.

"I just don't know. This city is so big." Aelita sipped her Pepsi while Alex had a cup of coffee, an acquired taste as he put it.

"Well, this is your birthday present. We've got about four hours before Johnson want's us back." Alex looked up at the clock in the café. It was roughly nine-o clock. "The only thing I know you will need is a dress for tomorrow night. The museum in the area along with Imperial Crafters happen to be holding a ball or something like that in honor of the last site I helped Johnson with, but I'd rather not talk about that."

Aelita decided to stop by a clothing store and pick out a dress first then. It took her a while, but Alex was patient. After an hour, she finally settled on one, but wouldn't show Alex. "You'll see it tomorrow." She teased him.

The next stop was to a small shop filled with odds and ends. A small statue in the window of an Absol resting with a human had caught her eye and she couldn't help but want it.

By the time midnight rolled around, Alex had spent a good eight hundred credits on one large bag of things. The two most expensive items were the dress

Aelita had picked out at three hundred and some odd credits and a diamond choker to go with it which was roughly the same amount. Aelita was so happy, this was the best gift she had ever gotten.

"So, we still have an hour. Any ideas on how to spend that hour?" Alex asked as he had stopped by another café to take a break from walking.

"I'm not sure. These last few hours have been the greatest gift I could ask for." Aelita scooted closet to Alex and laid her head against him.

"There's a park near here. You up for a walk before we head back." Alex offered.

"Sure. Let's go." Aelita was delighted by the idea.

The park was a quiet little place, calm and peaceful. It may have been on the edge of town but that was what made it perfect. There were very few sounds of the city here as Alex and Aelita walked along. The dirt path had small lights on each side placed out just far enough to easily see the path for anyone who walked it at night.

It was peaceful walk. Alex held the bag containing the items he had bought for Aelita in his left hand while Aelita held his right arm. The two of them walked on just enjoying the moment. The two of them walked on until at last, Alex's phone alerted them to time and they started back to hotel.

--

Alex and Aelita walked back into the main lobby. The Dratini in the pool were sleeping, each one curled up with another. Alex led the way back to the elevator and pulled a keycard for the pent house out of that fancy wallet he had picked up before leaving. Once up top, the two of them headed for Alex's room. Everyone but Cheryl was already asleep, but she left them alone as they headed for Alex's room.

Alex handed Aelita her gifts and cleared off a desk for her to put them down on. He let her get dressed in her pajamas as he took off his shirt. Like normal, he just wore a pair of shorts or something to bed. Aelita joined him under the covers kissing him goodnight before she quickly dozed off. It was a little after one in the morning anyway. Alex laid there for a second watching Aelita resting before heading to sleep himself.

xXx

Alex and Aelita awoke the next morning in time for breakfast. Andrew, a Linoone had shown up early that morning with the last of the supplies the crew would need for the exploration. He was the last member of the current crew and was in charge of various things, most of all dealing with any public relations type of job.

The day was quite until late afternoon when everyone was getting ready for the event being held in their honor. Johnson couldn't care less about the event. Cheryl on the other was going all out. Alex really didn't like the idea and would have skipped it like he did the others that the crew was given on occasion. Alex agreed to go in the end at the request of Johnson though who had said that this was earned by the whole crew after the events that took place at the last dig site. He had even go so far as to say that he wouldn't accept it without his full crew there, which included Alex. Aelita asked what happened during the last trip and Johnson gave her the short version when Alex once again avoided the topic.

What was meant to be a two-day exploration became a week-long fight for survival. Not only did they discover a lost tomb in the Hoenn Region, but they also released a small number Regirock from the tomb, which were thought to be extinct and they even helped out a Mew trapped down there as well and that was just the beginning. An earthquake in the area had even caused a mountain slide which covered a near by mountain resort. Everyone in the resort was just lucky that the place had been built so close to one of the many tunnels of the tomb and that served as the escape route. Aelita immediately recalled the incident a few weeks back. Alex had missed a week for some strange reason he didn't feel like discussing it. Everyone agreed that Alex was the most deserving of the ceremony considering the amount of pain he went through.

"Alex, you mean that you helped save all those people and didn't tell me." Aelita was shocked. She knew Alex did a lot of ruin exploration, but didn't know about anything like this.

"I'd rather not talk about." Alex turned away. Something about that trip must have got to him.

"Why not?" Aelita asked slightly concerned.

"I can answer that." Cheryl spoke up moving in behind them. "He took three poisoned darts in his ass when one of the people from the resort set off a trap. Alex saved her, but not without a price. Then a short while, he took a boulder to the back. By the end of the trip, he wouldn't have anything to do with those people after how much trouble they caused."

"You're joking right." Aelita looked to Alex who had a very annoyed look on his face. "I can see why you didn't want to talk about it." Aelita felt sorry for Alex, but she now understood why he missed that week of school.

"I'm going to get dressed. It's almost time anyway." Alex got up and headed for his room. Johnson and Justin were already getting dressed as well.

"I guess we should all finish getting ready." Cheryl headed for her room as Bryan walked out of his room in his Tuxedo looking like proper gentleman.

"I tell ya, I hate da suit. Ya just can't run in em." Bryan sighed. Johnson was the next out and ready. Instead of just wearing a black Tuxedo though, this one had an emblem embroidered on the left side. It was his family insignia, a fancy golden Y over a Kite Shield.

Alex walked out next in his Tuxedo hair combed back with a slightly unhappy look on his face. "Your turn." Alex told Aelita as she entered the room to get changed.

"Hey Alex, we'll be waiting in the lobby. Andrew said he'd meet us at the ceremony." Johnson alerted Alex as he boarded the elevator with Bryan and Justin at his side.

"He never did tell us where he was going once he got back." Alex replied as the doors closed.

Cheryl walked out of her room a few seconds later. The top of her pink dress was loose. "Hey, could you zip the back of this up for me?" Cheryl asked. She moved her second set of jaws to the side of her body so that Alex could zip up the dress. It was a fancy thing and hugged her body a bit favoring her right and leaving most of her left leg for the world to see. Alex zipped it up for her careful not to catch the back of her bra in the zipper.

"There you go." Alex stepped back some. "Justin and Bryan went with Johnson down to the lobby to wait for us."

"Alright. Is Aelita getting dressed?" She asked.

"As we speak." Alex informed her. It took Aelita a few minutes to get ready, but when she did, Alex was quite impressed. Aelita was wearing an ocean blue dress that sparkled in the light. It hugged her body well. She had combed her hair all to one side leaving her horn on the other side. She had wrapped her tail around her waist under the dress so that it was comfortable and wouldn't get in the way. She had on the diamond choker Alex had bought her as well.

"How do I look?" She asked turning slowly. Cheryl had given her a pair of fancy short heels to wear, which made her appear as tall as Alex. She wobbled a bit not used to them.

"You bought her all that last night?" Cheryl asked surprised by fancy Aelita looked.

"That I did. And you look beautiful." Alex bowed over some lowering his head below hers his arm across his waist.

"I never knew you were such a gentleman." Alex laughed just a bit. The three of them took the elevator down.

Bryan took one look at Aelita then turned to Alex. "Ya got to tell me, Alex. How ya got a girl like dat."

"She picked me, Bryan. I don't know why, but I'm glad she did." Alex told him.

"Aelita, Cheryl. The both of you look absolutely wonderful." Johnson pointed to the door. "Our cars are outside. Alex, Aelita, the two of you are with me. Cheryl, Bryan, and Justin will be in the second car."

Outside were two very fancy black HUMMERs, both the latest model to date. While they had the look of H3's there were much better. Using a new Solar Energy System, they didn't need any gas and were the perfect vehicle for both off-road travel and the city streets. They both had the Yelstien Family insignia on the hoods. Aelita opened the rear passenger door and found that the inside was a little strange. The passenger seat was turned around to face the back of the vehicle rather then front and there were obvious signs that some sort of desk or something had been setting right behind the drivers seat.

"I've never seen a layout like this before." Aelita commented.

"These are custom built vehicles. Both of them are like this for a few reasons. You'll see why when we head for the ruins in two days." Johnson informed her.

It was a quick ride to the Imperial Crafters primary speaker hall, which had been refitted for the ceremony that was to take place.

Even before the HUMMERs pulled up, a large group of reporters had already gathered, each one wanting to get pictures and quotes from Johnson and his crew.

"I'm really gonna hate this." Alex said as they vehicle pulled in stopping by the gate. Johnson rolled down the window and showed his I.D. The guard opened the gate and the way to the underground parking area. Several other vehicles had already parked down there, but there were two spots reserved for Johnson and his crew. Once the vehicle was parked, Johnson got out followed by Alex and Aelita. She was still wobbling some and leaned on Alex for support.

After another minute, the second HUMMER pulled out and everyone else stepped out. The group of six met Andrew by the elevator. Just like the other he was in a fancy Tuxedo. "They're waiting for us." Andrew said as he opened the elevator for them.

The seven of them boarded the elevator and rode it up to the ground floor where a large number of reporters had been waiting.

Cameras flashed non-stop as Alex covered his eyes.

"Johnson, how does it feel to have saved Millina Crafter, daughter to the man who owns Imperial Crafters?" One reported asked. "Tell how, what are thoughts on the matter?" another asked. Then one reporter singled out Alex.

"Alex, is it true that you carried Millina Crafter out of the ruins in your arms after she fainted?"

"No comment." Alex replied moving the microphone out of his face.

A second reporter tried to copy the first, but Johnson intervened. "Leave the boy alone, he wants nothing to do with you."

"If you have any questions, I can answer them." Andrew raised his voice as he moved away from the rest of the group. Upon hearing this, the reporters flocked to him, but cameras still tried to capture as many pictures of the group as possible. The group entered the main hall where the celebration was already taking place.

"And here they are. Come on up here please so that we may begin." The announcer shouted. Johnson led the group up to the stage that had been added to room.

Alex remained quiet just standing there with Aelita by his side. She could tell that this was not fun for him as his gave avoided the crowd before them.

After several minutes, the award had been given and the official party began as Johnson walked over to Alex. "There's a quite little balcony over that way and down the hall. I'll send for you when we're ready to leave."

"Thanks." Alex said as he slowly made his way to hall with Aelita at his as a Typhlosion in the back of the room watched in disbelief.

"You really don't like crowds." She said as they walked. Down the hall was an open glass doorway, which lead to the balcony Johnson had told them about.

"I hate most gatherings. Never went to any of the dances or celebration at the school because I just hate large crowds." Alex told her. The two of them just stood quietly there for a while looking at the courtyard of the building. A few stars had already appeared in the night sky.

"Well, I'll be damned. If its not Aelita and the human." A voice snapped behind them.

Both of them turned to see Michael dressed in a suit. "What are you doing here?" Aelita demanded.

"My father brought me. I have to say though, I'm surprised to see the two of you here. How'd you bride William to let you join him up there on stage?" Michael asked.

"I work with Johnson. I was there the day the rockslide crashed into the resort." Alex replied.

"Ya right. Why would he let a boy like you travel with him." Michael demanded.

"Just us alone." Aelita half shouted.

"Such a wonderful dress, Aelita. Who bought it for you?" Michael asked as he looked at her.

"I bought it as her birthday gift along with the diamond choker she is wearing." Alex informed his unwanted guest.

"Come on, tell me the truth. That dress makes you look so beautiful." Michael reached to put a hand on Aelita's cheek, but Alex grabbed his hand.

"Keep your paws off my mate. I'll not have you touch her after trying to take her by force." Alex threw Michael's hand off to the side.

"Why you." Michael drew back his fist and was ready to hit Alex, but someone grabbed his paw.

Michael turned to see Cheryl holding his arm tightly in place. "Are you sure you want to do that?" She asked moving him against the wall. "Just because I'm a woman doesn't mean I won't pin you down." She threatened as her second jaws began to show its fangs.

"I'll deal with you later." Michael forced him arm free of Cheryl and ran off back down the halls.

"Thanks Cheryl." Alex looked on as Michael returned to the main hall.

"Johnson said you'd be back here. I'd thought I'd see if you were up for a dance?" Cheryl offered.

"Not here, the place is too crowded and fancy for my liking." Alex replied.

"It never hurts to ask. I'll see ya later." Cheryl slowly walked back to the main hall.

Johnson showed up an hour later with a Raichu by his side dressed in a business suit.

"Alex, this the person who funds a few our explorations. His name is Chris Blackrock." Johnson introduced the person beside him.

"I've been keeping an eye on every report filed from Johnson when you were on a dig with him." The Raichu extended his hand out. Alex extended his own arm out. "Johnson has informed me of how useful you've been and after talking it over with him, I'd like to give you a chance to prove yourself."

"Prove myself? What are you getting at?" Alex questioned.

"I've some documents of an necklace that I want. The temple however has fallen down on top of it. I would like for you to go retrieve this necklace." Chris explained his idea.

"Okay, I'll need a proper layout of the land and all the basics. What kind of temple are we talking about anyway." Alex asked, this opportunity did peek his interest.

"Old Ironhold design. Class C traps, maybe a string of poison darts, but they were known more for their mind teasing puzzles and less for dangerous traps." Johnson told Alex.

"Sure, just get me what everything I need to know about the necklace and the temple. I'll get to it once I can, but it will be a while until the next school break." Alex thought it would be nice to try a recovery on his own.

"The temple is located about a day's hike from the Suicune falls. I am told that is where you reside in cave in the same mountain as the falls. Shouldn't be too hard to get to." Chris explained.

"If that's the case, then I can get to it this next weekend unless we finish here early." Alex bowed his head.

"Now that that's settled, I'll take my leave." The Raichu walked off leaving Johnson with Alex and Aelita. "Just to let the two of you know, we'll be leaving soon."

Alex began to head back to main hall with Aelita at his side. Several people were in the middle of the room, dancing as the music went on.

"Alex, I know you don't like crowds, but could I ask to escort me to school dance next week?" Aelita had her head resting against Alex as they moved to meet up with the rest of the group.

"I wouldn't normally go, but for you, I'll make an exception." Alex told her.

--

The ride back to back to the Dragon's Den was short one, but there were no reporters, which was the best part. Once back at the hotel, everyone changed back into their usual clothing except Cheryl who had changed into a two piece swimsuit with a towel over her shoulder. Johnson collected the tuxedos and dresses and sent them to be washed properly.

"I'm heading down to one of the pools. Anyone else coming?" Cheryl asked as she headed for the elevator.

"Pool?" Aelita didn't see any pools around the building.

"Yea, there are four of em here. The biggest on is on the roof of main building in between the three towers." Cheryl informed her.

"Cool. That's why you told me to bring my swimsuit wasn't it." Aelita turned to Alex.

"I knew you'd want to go swimming sooner or later." Alex replied.

"Will you join us?" Aelita asked.

"Not this time, my leg is acting up a bit. I'll just wait here for you to get back." Alex shook his head slightly.

After Aelita changed, she went to join Cheryl. As for Alex, he chose to cook up a meal for everyone. He may not be a five-star chef, but he had plenty of practice living on his own for a few years.

In just under two hours, Aelita and Cheryl returned talking and laughing with each other as Alex pulled out the last of the fish out of the oven, hand breaded, and cooked to perfection. Everyone was pleased with how well Alex could cook.

"You get better every time you come over here." Johnson gave his comment.

"I can bake meats and I'm great with seafood. I cannot however bake breads of any kind." Alex admitted to which everyone but Aelita burst out laughing.

"What's so funny?" Aelita asked.

"Alex doesn't make biscuits, he makes hockey pucks." Andrew informed Aelita.

"They can't be that bad." Aelita went to defend Alex.

"It took a chisel to crack open the last batch of biscuits I made." Alex told Aelita.

"They were that tough?" Aelita was hard put to believe it at first, but if Alex admitted to it, then it must have been true.

Dinner was spent talking with each other about various things. This was the first time Aelita had ever seen Alex talk this much. Aelita decided to ask Alex about it after dinner.

"Alex, I have a question." Aelita walked with Alex back to his room.

"Ask away." Alex opened the door.

"You seem open here. I've never seen you talk so much in one setting." Aelita said.

"This place just makes me feel at like I'm with family. While none of us are related, we are open with each other." Alex replied. "They have invited to live here a few times, but I prefer living out on in the country."

"You turned down living in a place like this?" Aelita couldn't see how anyone could turn down an offer like that.

"I did. I just don't feel truly at peace in the big cities, even in a few smaller ones for that matter. That's part of the reason I'm building that house in the mountain." Alex moved over to window resting his arms on the window ledge. He stared out at the city with all of its lights and sounds, all of the buildings and the people. "This place may seem like a dream to some, but I just couldn't stay here for weeks at a time."

Aelita nodded. She was starting to understand how he felt. The city was wonderful, but it lacked something. A peace not found in the big city. "I think I get it."

"Ya Alex, ya up for a game of Risk. Johnson and Justin are setting up as we speak." Bryan shouted down the hall.

"I'll give it out. Need to get back at Justin for taking me out last time anyway." Alex shouted back. "Risk is a game of strategy if you want, I can show you how to play. Be warned however that a game of risk with us can last for hours depending on the dice."

"I'll watch." Aelita didn't have much else to do right now anyway.

--

It took two hours just to knock out the first of the four players, Andrew. Everyone seemed to be playing cutthroat tonight. Alex had two continents at his disposal while Bryan and Johnson each had one. Aelita seemed to be having fun watching constantly going back and forth. The different sections of the Kanto Region seemed to be under attack the most and never stayed under any one player's command for long. It took another two hours of the game before Alex and Johnson called it a draw. Bryan certainly lasted a while, but after thee hours, he was knocked out of the game.

"And that was one long game of Risk." Alex declared looking at the clock that showed it was almost one in the morning.

"We had all better get ready for bed. I'm waking everyone up around eleven tomorrow so we can go over the plans for the exploration." Johnson announced as he headed for his room.

"I'll be heading back to my room." Alex got up and started for his room. Now that he was reminded of what was going to happen the day after tomorrow, he seemed a bit worried. "Let's hope for good run."

"Hey Alex?" Aelita tailed Alex to his room.

"Yes?" Alex turned to find Aelita wrapping her arms around him as he entered his room. "You seem a worried."

"Of course I'm worried. We're all worried." Alex told her as he took a seat on the bed. "We never know what to expect on these ruins. I don't even know what the basic architecture layout for the ruins are going to be like."

"You need to calm down a bit." Aelita said as she sat next to him.

"Easier said then done." Alex looked at her.

"I think I can help you relax." Aelita moved closer to him and drew him into a short sweet kiss. "And that's just the start." Aelita rolled over on top of him getting him to lie back on the bed.

"I think this just might work." Alex drew her into another kiss, which lasted slightly longer then before. Aelita began to remove her shirt as Alex pulled out a remote and pointed it at the door. He pressed a button and door locked itself. Alex removed his shirt as Aelita unhooked her bra tossing it into a clothes hamper nearby.

Aelita smiled looking down at her mate. She knew just how to help him relax. She leaned in and kissed Alex again as her hands traveled to his shoulders, then to his chest slowly working they way down. Once she came to his shorts, she rested a hand over a growing bulge. "Show me how much you love me."

Alex reached down and undid the button on her pants. She rolled over letting him take over again now that he knew what she wanted. This would be there sixth time mating and Aelita had taken lead more often. Now, she once again wanted Alex to take the lead. Alex began slowly, just massaging her breasts bringing Aelita to moan out in pleasure. Once he saw that her nipples were nice and erect, he lightly pinched one between his thumb and finger inciting a loud moan of pleasure out of Aelita.

After a short time of this, Alex decided it was time to move lower. He gently slipped off Aelita's pants leaving her in just her white panties with a little heart on the front. He ran his finger over them feeling a slight wet spot. Alex put his hand over on top of the fabric over her pussy and gently expanded his spirit energy into her. Aelita began to purr under his touch.

Alex removed his hand much to the disappointment of Aelita who turned to look at him with a slightly sad face. Alex removed his shorts and dropped them before taking off Aelita's panties. She raised her legs a bit to help him.

"I wonder." Alex leaned over Aelita.

"What is it?" she asked as she felt his hand on top of her moist sex again. Alex gently ran a pair of fingers between her folds, before he gently parted them. Rather then answer her directly, Alex gently began to move his fingers into her. Once they were all the way in, he moved the around a bit feeling her insides, but mostly just collecting the juices on his hand.

"I'm wondering how you taste." He pulled his fingers out of her and brought them to his lips. He stuck his tongue a bit before taking a lick. It was sweet liquid that he really liked. "Mind if I try something new?" He asked.

"Go ahead." Aelita knew what he was planning and began scooting back on the bed just a bit. Alex got down on his knees. He parted Aelita's lips gently with his fingers looking at the glistening liquid. He leaned in and gave her a quick lick. Aelita was very pleased by the feel of Alex's tongue. Alex licked her again gathering more the sweet nectar on his tongue. More he licked Aelita's most sensitive region of her body, the more of the sweet nectar he got. Soon, just licking the surface was not enough for him and he pushed his tongue into Aelita. He grew bolder as he worked more his tongue into his mate with every lick. Unable to hold out any longer, she grabbed the sheets closing her legs around the sides and back of his head pulling him closer as her walls tightened around his tongue. He quickly locked his mouth over her sex not wanting to let one drop of her love juices go to waste.

It took Aelita a few seconds to calm down after her orgasm, but still felt the effects. Alex joined her on the bed. "Now just relax and I'll take over for a bit." Aelita slowly got the bed and lowered herself to her knees on the floor. Alex was already completely erect standing up.

Aelita took the base of his rod in her hand lightly rubbing it as she lightly began to lick the head. It was now Alex's turn to feel the pleasure he had given Aelita. She gave him slow, long lick from the base of his shaft to the head causing him give a sigh of pleasure. "Ready?" she asked taking a second to tease him. She licked the head once more before taking the head into her mouth rolling her tongue over the top it. Her hand continued to slowly stroke his shaft.

Aelita switched between sucking lightly on the head and licking the shaft as she worked to please Alex as he had pleased her. Alex was soon gripping the bed as Aelita worked on pleasing him. Going a bit further, she took some of his shaft into her mouth sucking a bot harder then before.

"I… I'm gonna… cum." He warned her, but this only seemed to make her work even harder. Unable to resist the pleasure Aelita was giving him any longer, Alex shot the first bit of his cum into her mouth. It had a salty taste to it with hints of sweetness that Aelita was easily able to identify as Yoshama berries. Alex was known for eating a small sum everyday. She swallowed as much of his cum as she could, but couldn't get all of it. A small trail leaked out of the side of her mouth, down her chin and onto her breasts.

After a minute, Alex handed her a small rag he had used to clean the artifacts in his room. Rather then use the rag, she smiled. "You taste like Yoshama berries." She used her fingers to pick up the excess and then licked her fingers clean.

After a minute, Alex was hard again and Aelita was ready to feel him within her. She laid back using one hand to part her lips waiting for Alex to continue. Alex leaned over her using his hand to guide himself. Gently, he pushed into her spreading her lips a bit more until the head was completely in. He continued until he was completely inside her. Gently, he pulled out and then pushed back in. Alex picked up a fair pace gently pumping into Aelita who enjoyed how gentle Alex was.

Aelita leaned up and Alex kissing him as they made love. Alex sped up bit by bit showing his love for Aelita. He spread his spirit energy in her again and the two of them gave off a light green glow. Both of them knew that their love would last forever as they kissed again. Aelita was the first to reach her limit for a second that day. Her walls clamped down milking Alex for everything she could. Alex couldn't take it any more and hilted himself as he cummed deep into Aelita.

The two of them rested there for a few enjoying the fact that they had each other. Alex rolled over to grab a blanket. Aelita laid down on top of Alex. She had indeed helped him to relax. Smiling, Alex covered the two of them up. Aelita fell asleep lying on top of Alex's chest with his arms around her. He drifted off shortly after, his mind no longer plagued by the thoughts of what was going to happen in two days.

xXx

Alex awoke around with Aelita still resting upon him that morning. A check of the clock had shown that it was only a little after nine. Aelita shifted some rolling off of Alex and to his side. Alex took this chance to put on a pair of shorts and grab a change of clothing smiling the whole time. He headed for one of the bathrooms for a shower. Johnson was up, but this was no surprise. He was almost always up by eight. Alex stepped into one of the bathrooms and started the shower.

By the time he was done, Cheryl and Andrew had also woken up. Alex walked back to his room. He opened the door and came upon Aelita putting on her undergarments. Alex walked in and closed the door walking over to here.

"Morning my mate." Alex said kindly. "You're welcome to take a shower. I'd join you, but I just finished mine." Alex walked over to a dresser and pulled out a towel for Aelita to use. She put on one her over sized shirts that came down to her knees with the towel over one shoulder and the clothes she was going to change into in her arms. Alex put his necklace back on, but rather then hide it, he left it out for the others to see. There was no reason for him to hide it here anyway.

A few hours past as the rest of the crew woke up. The group grabbed a quick breakfast before heading to the study. They all gathered around the table.

"We leave tonight for the Gekcro temple grounds." Johnson started the meeting. Pressing a few buttons on the control to the Liquid Projection Table brought an image of the area. The silver liquid that made up the temple went green and brown to imitate grass, trees, and dirt. The basic layout of the area was a valley that had been zoomed out quite a ways. There was only one visible road in and out of the area for vehicles considering the number of trees and large boulders in the area.

"We'll start the exploration at sunrise tomorrow morning. I want everyone to keep an eye on Aelita while we're there. I don't expect anything fatal, but we all now that traps break down over time and don't always function as they should." Johnson continued

Everyone but Aelita nodded at this. "What kind of architecture are we dealing with?" Alex asked. He had chosen a spot next to Johnson with Aelita on his other side.

"Upon basic inspection, the temple appears to be of late Spellsworn design." Cheryl replied.

"The Spellsworn Empire, masters of mind games, archery, and the first people to build any type of bomb." Justin said. "Very secretive, not much is know about them. We can expect C class traps with the occasional B class. They will have built a labyrinth to keep intruders in often filled with A class hazards."

"I hate Spellsworn ruins." Alex sighed.

"The Spellsworn Empire?" Aelita had never recalled such an empire in school.

"The schools refuse to teach about Spellsworn. What little is truly known about them is not pretty. Records indicate ritual sacrifices, mating with a few select legendary feral Pokemon, and a few other bizarre rituals." Alex informed her.

"Mating with feral Pokemon?" Aelita was shocked and a bit disgusted by the idea.

"At the very least, we'll need to prepare for long climbs, endless walking, and carry extra medical supplies against darts." Cheryl explained.

"I'd pack extra clothing and water proof hiking packs as well. The Spellsworn have water hazards in half their temples" Alex spoke.

"I agree. Dar is no telling what kinda hazards we be facing in there." Bryan commented.

"The thing that concerns me most of all is the final rite of passage." Johnson spoke up. "Our knowledge of mid-evil trivial facts and brains in general should get us past most of the puzzles. However, their final rite of passage always differs from temple to temple."

"Rite of passage? You mean like a trail." Aelita asked.

"Sometimes we be facing a big puzzle, sometimes it be a great big riddle. Ya neva know what da be having lying in wait for us." Bryan informed her.

"I've already got the tents packed up and have selected a place to make camp." Justin nodded and Johnson had the projection table zoom in to the area right around the temple entrance.

Aelita could easily make out the large area of collapsed debris on the valley floor. Directly above it was some sort of carved out stone ledge and doorway. What appeared to be a clawed hand surrounded the stone doorway.

Justin pointed to area a short ways south of the temple entrance to what looked like a small spring. "There is fresh water spring here which will supply us with a viable source of drinking water. I still recommend bringing a fair some of water though."

"Okay, let's go over safety procedures. Normally, there are only six of us and we would split up in groups of three. With Aelita with us, I want a change in grouping. Cheryl, I want you to take Justin's place on my team and Aelita will also be joining us." Johnson explained

"I've no arguments there." Cheryl agreed to the idea. "It might be nice to work with another woman for once."

"I don't see any problems with that either." Justin commented.

"Aelita, the rest of the team already knows this, but always watch your step. The floors need to be watch at all times. Even the slightly change in tile pattern could serve as a warning. Another important rule is if it looks easy, be extra careful. Nothing in these ruins can be called safe at first glance." Johnson used a very strict voice. "The best thing you can do is listen to me and Alex at all times. If we give a command, don't question it, just do it. It may save you some pain."

"I'll do my best." Aelita responded.

"That's good." Cheryl said. "As long as you keep you eyes and ears open, you'll most likely hear the traps before they can get you. Use your abilities to their full potential and you'll be fine."

The meeting ended about four hours later. Everyone there went over reports and records of other Spellsworn designs and basic traps. By the end the meeting, Aelita was pretty familiar with the basics of Spellsworn designs, as she was fast learner.

--

The HUMMERs were packed over the next few hours and Aelita understood the purpose of the reversed passenger seats. They were built that way so that the person in the passenger seat had easy access to the computer systems the HUMMERs could have removed at any time. Whilst loading, Aelita was also shown the rest of the surprises the vehicles were equipped with. Both of them had a mini fridge in the back as well as added compartments below the vehicle for extra supplies. One even had a generator to power what electronics were brought on the digs. The HUMMERs alone acted as command tents carrying everything that the crew would need. The only thing that they didn't do well was serve as beds.

The crew met once more after loading up the vehicle for a last minute review and check of their supplies and knowledge of the area before they set out with the evening sun.


	5. Chapter 5

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

xXx

Chapter 5

The team arrived at the site in just a few hours. The old dirt road used to get there was filled with uneven terrain resulting in a bumpy ride. The sun had set and the moon high above gave off much needed light. Both HUMMERs were equipped a set small dome lights mounted on the each side of the vehicle before they set out. They would serve as the primary light source for the crew at night and would definitely be needed to set up camp.

It took a few hours, but all ten tents were set up. Everyone had their own small camping tent to sleep in except for Aelita and Alex who shared one. The other four tents were very large. Three of them were about the size of HUMMERs them selves and served a few purposes like a mobile mess hall, storage tent, and command tent. The last tent wasn't so much a tent as it was a mobile pavilion. It covered both HUMMERs protecting them from basic weather conditions. By midnight, everything set up and the group was getting in their tents for the night.

Everyone turned in waiting for the sun to rise in the morning.

--

Alex was the second to wake. Johnson of course was the only on up before him. The shiny Umbreon stood in the command tent looking over maps of the area and up loading them to set of handheld devices similar in design to cellphone, but were never used as such. The small devices were how the crew kept track of each other. They had built in GSP chips, had a three miles communications range, they automatically mapped out areas the person had traveled, and they even had cameras in them. The Explorer's Second Eye or ESE as Imperial Crafters had named them was an explorers best friend.

Alex looked toward the rising sun. He was still tired and rubbed his eyes. "Alex, how ya doing?" Johnson asked as he finished copying the data to the devices.

"I'm still a bit tired, but I'll wake up soon enough." Alex walked over to the where the HUMMERs were parked. Opening the trunk on one of them, Alex set up the coffee maker. He walked over to the spring, gathered some water, and then returned to the vehicle to start the coffee.

Within the next hour, everyone had woken up. Breakfast consisted of coffee and eggs for everyone except Aelita who after trying the coffee, went for some of the water from the spring. After breakfast, the group did some stretches to loosen up their bodies for the days activities. Johnson passed out a canteen, six power bars, headsets with lights on the sides, and an Explorer's Second Eye to everyone before they walked down to the temple. Everyone gathered up the supplies that they were elected to carry before they started for the temple late morning.

Just like the Liquid Projection Table had shown them, the temple entrance was a feet up off the valley with a large number of rocks in front of it. The crew climbed up to the ledge where the stone door stood waiting for them. A large hand seemed to grip the doorway, its claws were at least as long as Aelita's arms. She was experiencing her first doubts about coming. "Okay, we all know the routine." Johnson pushed against the right side stone door while Bryan pushed on the left side one. "Place a beacon every fifty feet, report to each other every ten minutes, and most of all, stick with your team."

The stone doors moved a side soon enough revealing the long hallway into the temple. Johnson activated the lights on his headset. Two bright beams of light shot through the darkness revealing the hall that sloped downward. Everyone followed suit and the exploration was officially under way.

The first room that the crew came to was the entrance hall. It was mostly just a big room, a few pillars on the sides to help ceiling from collapsing. Burned out torches were position along the ways, each one held in place by what looked like a pair of hands that seemed to be part of the walls. The crew looked around checking for inconsistencies in the tiles of the floor and any large openings. "Place a Master beacon here." Johnson told Bryan.

"Give me a sec, mon." Bryan pulled out something about the size of twenty-four ounce pop bottle from his backpack and placed it in the middle of the room. It was a dull gray in color and had a small button on top. Bryan pressed the button and it lit up some, but not much. A single red light started flashing at the top signifying the device was working.

The crew moved to the end of the room and found two passages. "We'll go to the left, Andrew, your team goes right."

Andrew headed down the right side passage with Justin and Bryan behind him.

Alex and Johnson took the lead down the left hand passage with Aelita and Cheryl behind them.

The hall was of simple design, bricks had been stacked upon each other. The tile floor was a perfect grid. There was the occasional set of hands holding a torch here and there, always on alternating sides of the hallway. Everything was quite except for the sounds of very quite foot steps. The hall seemed to be turning to the right a bit at a slightly down ward angle. This didn't Aelita too much until they came to their first trap.

The group was walking along slowly when Alex and Johnson stopped. "Aelita, how well have you been paying attention?" Johnson asked.

"I've kept my eyes open." She replied.

"What have you noticed about the torches?" Alex asked.

"They are never on the same wall twice in a row." She responded. Looking a bit past them, she could see a set of hands holding a torch on the right side. She looked behind her at the left wall, but the last torch they passed was also on the right side. "Hey, that the patterns been broken."

"That's right. We need to keep a look out for something else out of place now." Cheryl moved forward. "Stick close."

Alex got down on his hands and knees inspecting the bottom of the walls on either side of them while Johnson took a careful look at the floor. Aelita took a small step back, her foot standing on a tile. The tile moved down some and something clicked in front of them. The walls ahead of them opened up slightly. A small blob of white matter was flung at them. "Get down." Johnson shouted. The four of them hit the floor as the blob flew over them. It hit the wall a short ways down the passage they had come from and there was loud sickening pop as the blob burst in a mess of spider webs.

"Classic web trap meant to hold people in place until guards arrive." Alex got up first and shook the dust off of himself.

The crew was a little slow to get started again making sure the trap had been dealt with.

Cheryl stuck closer to Aelita, as she seemed a bit shaken up. "Hey, let's talk. It will help to calm your nerves." Cheryl moved just a bit closer to Aelita.

"Okay." Aelita was new to the whole trapped dungeon thing.

"Tell me about how you and Alex became mates. That should be a nice story to hear." Cheryl made sure to keep her voice low as not to draw too much attention away from Alex and Johnson.

"Well, we met last year." Aelita began her story. "I was walking beside the Helcos River and everything seemed alright. I had walked the same path for the entire school year and nothing had happened. Then one day after a rain storm, the river was a just a bit high." She recalled the day quite clearly. "I was walking along thinking nothing was going to happen, but I was proven wrong. Something came up on the path and crashed into me. The wave that carried it up to path I was on got hold of me easily since I had lost my footing."

"That must have been scary." Cheryl listened intently to find out how Alex had gotten Aelita as his mate.

"It was. One second I was fine on the path, the next second, I was thrown into the river. I couldn't see or do much as the water tossed me around." Aelita did seem a bit calmer. "It felt like I was being thrown around in the river for hours, but then I felt something grab on to me tightly. Before I could even grasp the fact that someone was rescuing me, Alex had pulled to the shore of the river. I was so surprised and thankful, that I just hugged him then there giving my constant thanks. At first, he was too open with me and it took him a while to open up to me."

"That's no surprise. He doesn't open to anyone quickly." Cheryl laughed a bit as the team entered a large room. The room was empty of all objects except for a few torches.

"This is interesting." Alex looked down at the floor. The tiles on each end of the room were like every other tile they had seen so far, but the tiles in the middle of the room were very large almost two foot wide squares. Each one had a letter on it in Spellsworn runes in a five by five pattern.

"Okay, I don't see a riddle around here, so it must be a name." Johnson looked all over the side of the room they were on, but found no riddles or clues.

"I think we might need the name of one of their gods. Take a look up there." Alex pointed to the roof where there was a large worn out image of some sort of Pokemon.

"It's definitely a bird Pokemon." Cheryl stated. The wings may have been worn down, but they were clearly visible.

"Karito, Jectoria, Begniga, Leganmia, and Thortanso. Those are the five basic legendary bird Pokemon in the Spellsworn language." Alex said.

"Very good." Johnson was happy to learn that Alex had done his work on studying the notes about the Spellsworn culture that Johnson had dug up.

"It kind of looks like a phoenix." Aelita tilted her to look at the picture as a different angle.

"It kind of does. Now, Alex, you know the four names of the birds in Spellsworn. Do you know which one is the phoenix?" Johnson asked looking down at the lettered tiles before them.

"I think the phoenix is…" Alex tried to recall which bird was which. "Begniga?"

Johnson picked up a stone and tossed it on the Spellsworn rune for the letter B. The tile flipped over sending the stone to some unknown location. "Nope."

"It's Karito." Cheryl spoke up. She stepped forward walking onto the Spellsworn rune for the letter K. Everyone watched as nothing happened. Cheryl took another step onto the tile with the rune for the letter A on it. Once again nothing happened. One by, each person walked the same spelling out the word Karito in Spellsworn.

"That wasn't so hard." Alex proclaimed as they once again began down the halls.

Two hours had passed since the group had first entered the temple. So far, Johnson, Aelita, Alex, and Cheryl had only faced off against three traps, the web trap, the floor puzzle, and short pit fall. Andrew's group had reported in on time every ten minutes reporting nothing of interest and minimal traps. They had chosen to stop in large room with a floor puzzle before continuing.

With Cheryl there to talk with Aelita, she faired much better then if she had done this quietly. She had shared the story of how she had met Alex and how she came to know him better.

Cheryl continued to talk with Aelita as the four of them walked. They had entered a long hallway that twisted downward to the left. Luckily, there were no traps or hazards. As they entered the room at the bottom of the spiral hallway, they stopped.

Several torches lit themselves lighting up the room. Blazers here and there light up the middle of the room. The room was huge, almost as big as the pent house. Statues of various Legendary Pokemon lined the sides of the room, each one made of gold.

"What happened, who lit those torches?" Aelita grabbed onto Alex.

"The Spellsworn have many ancient secrets like this, only science can't always explain them." Alex informed her.

"Don't touch anything." Johnson warned. The base of each statue was lined with various gemstones. One statue on the far wall stuck out from the others though. It was a large woman, standing at least twenty feet tall. She stood up tall, her head raised up some. Her hands held large Kris as though she was offering it to someone with one hand on the hilt and another supporting the blade. She was barely dressed, not that anyone except Aelita cared about that.

"They have some strange statues." Aelita looked on.

"This is a room of worship." Alex suggested.

There before the statue of the women was a large flat alter, blood stains covered most of it and two small indentations seemed to be where the blood collected. There were no other passages into or out of the room visible to the crew so the slowly made their advance toward the alter.

"This is Andrew." Johnson's ESE started beeping.

"How is it over there?" Johnson asked.

"Better question, how it down there by that alter?" Andrew asked.

Alex looked up toward the ceiling above the door they had used to get in. Andrew stood there with Bryan and Justin by his side on a small ledge just below the ceiling of the room.

"Nice to have you meet us. We'll wait for you to get down here." Johnson put his ESE back on his belt. It took a few minutes, but Justin, Bryan, and Andrew made the climb down the wall careful not to disturb anything.

"Worship room huh?" Andrew looked on at the altar.

"Aelita, how ya holding up?" Bryan asked as he set down on the floor.

"I'm doing okay." She said.

With the crew of seven back together, they could really get to work examining the room.

--

It took an hour to go over the room as much as they could. There were no traps, but five various riddles. They also found signs of secret passages in the room, but couldn't open them. It also took Aelita a while, but she sort of got used to the whole unexplainable self lighting torches.

"It's getting late, lets head back for the day." Johnson offered. Water was starting to run low and everyone had eaten all of the six power bars they had. Unlike the trip down to the worship room, the trip back was much faster. Everyone still kept their guard up as they walked, but since they had disarmed the traps they had come across, it went much faster. The crew left the temple leaving behind only the beacons they had placed every fifty feet. The sun was already setting by the time they had returned to surface. The group had talked about what little they had found and went out the riddles they had come across.

The first four were easy and the group spent more time decoding the riddles then solving them. The last one however was much harder.

"I don't get it. Think we might have translated it wrong?" Alex asked looked at the paper with the translation on it. The group had a large fire going serving to light up and warm the area in the center of the camp.

"To pass beyond my hall, one must offer my tears of ice and find my fang of fire." Johnson repeated the same set of words for the tenth time since they translated the riddle.

"Fang of fire?" Aelita looked at Alex as he changed out of the shirt he had worn into the temple. Alex's necklace hung around his neck. She looked closely at the ruby fang and the light that gleamed off it from the fire. It seemed to have a glow of its own. "Alex, look at your necklace." Aelita walked over to him.

"My necklace?" Alex looked down. Then it hit him.

"The key was right under our noses." Justin looked at Alex. "Rubies signified the fire of Motlres and sapphires were used in many Articuno statues."

"I hate it when that happens. We've been looking for something inside the temple and we had it with us the whole time." Alex sighed for not realizing sooner.

"Well, the rest of the night is ours, just head to bed early enough to wake up in the morning." Johnson alerted the crew. "I'll going to go over the photos that were taken."

The rest of the night was mostly spent talking before everyone called it a night and headed to their tents.

xXx

Everyone was up shortly after nine the next day. Breakfast was again a quick meal as everyone readied his or her pack. They knew that today, the real danger would begin. Everyone was given fourteen power bars today and two canteens of water. It was possible that they may not make it back out until late into the night.

The crew took the left-hand passage once they entered the temple entrance hall. This time, Cheryl shared stories of her past with Aelita to help her stay relaxed as they walked. It took about an hour of walking to return the chamber of worship. Just like last they entered, torches lit up and blazers flared to life. Once the light had come forth, they headed for the altar.

"We're looking for some sort of panel on the altar or at the base of the statue." Johnson reminded the crew.

Aelita stuck close to Alex who was searching the sides of the altar were the riddle had been written. Now that Aelita had a chance to look at the old runes, she was surprised. They were very well carved out and seemed to flawlessly flow into the next one. "There beautiful." Aelita said as she sat on her knees next to Alex.

"Late Spellsworn scribes were very picky about their work. They would sometimes redo a project a few times to get it done right. We've found many sets of bars with incomplete riddles in a few other locations." Alex told her. "But yes, they are quite nice to look at."

"I think I found something." Justin shouted. Everyone herded over to where he was by the left foot of the golden woman statue. The found a small statue of an Entei. Its mouth was open as it to roar, but was missing a fang and there were two small indentations below its eyes. Alex took off his necklace and compared to the statue before him.

"It's a match." Johnson looked on.

"I knew it was expensive, but to think it was key to a temple." Andrew looked a bit around the corner. The group had identified a secret passage only a few feet away from the statue.

"Okay, there's telling what is going to happen." Alex just barely had enough of slack on the chain of the necklace to place the two lunar tears below the eyes and put the fang into place. The loud sound of stone grinding against stone filled the room. The secret passage that Andrew had been looking slowly opened up. A string of torches light themselves to light up the passage which turned to the right a short ways down. The passage was just large enough for the group to walk into two at a time.

"I'll lead, Alex you're second. Cheryl, Aelita, bring up the rear." Johnson advanced toward the tunnel.

"Hold on, I want to check something." Alex objected. Alex removed his necklace from the statue and a few seconds later, the door began to close.

"Good thinkin." Bryan clapped. "Might be betta to split up again."

"If that's the case, then Justin, I want your team to stay here and watch over this room." Johnson announced. "My team will go while your team can check out the other riddles and see what prizes you get. We'll call you every ten minutes with updates."

"Very well." Justin walked to Alex who handed him the necklace.

"Don't lose it." Alex was serious when giving the necklace over to Justin. "It's the only clue to my past I have."

"I'll keep a very good eye on it." Justin nodded his head knowing all too well the true value the necklace had to Alex.

Johnson and Alex lead the way down the new passage with Cheryl and Aelita taking up the rear. Cheryl continued to talk with Aelita to help her stay calm as they walked, but everyone kept their eyes open. They moved slowly down the passage. The floor was made of several tiles in a diagonal pattern and the center tile was red every twelfth tile. Stone bricks made up the walls lined slightly off center of the row below it giving the walls a slightly tilted pattern. A set of hands holding torches showed up every twenty bricks always on the fourth row from the top.

The group of four walked along for about an hour and Johnson had reported to the other half of the expedition every ten minutes, but there was nothing to report. They group would have gone much faster, but caution kept them to a slow pace. At last, they entered a large room. Blazers flared up as they entered the room. Four large statues occupied the corners of the room, each one of a human holding a blowgun in their mouths. Their weapons were all pointed towards the center of the room. "We'll take a break here." Johnson informed them. It had been a while since breakfast and they all pulled out a few power bars each.

While they ate, Alex looked around. His eyes constantly shifted from statue to statue.

"Yo, Johnson, ya there mon?" Johnson's ESE started beeping.

"What it is Bryan?" Johnson replied.

"We be thinkin we find something. Looks to be another stone doorway. Needs a key of sorts, which we don't be having." Bryan informed them.

"Andrew here, I've got a rough translation. It looks like only those who have proven themselves may pass. We've got a indentation of Spellsworn cross here." Andrew told the crew.

"Johnson, I see an golden eye." Alex pointed across the room. Right by the door that lead on was a small golden sphere that looked like an eye.

"We might have the key over here. It looks like we found a chamber of trails." Johnson was happy to finally know exactly what there were dealing with. "I'll contact you in a while."

"So, this is an initiates trail chamber." Cheryl got up. It all made sense. The crew was running a small gauntlet of trials, so only the rooms would have traps in them.

"And that gives us an advantage." Alex smiled.

"What are you talking about?" Aelita asked.

"We are better then the humans of the Spellsworn Era. We are faster, stronger, and most of all, have various skills that humans were unable to use back then." Johnson explained. "What would be a class S trial to them could be a class B for us."

"I'll go first." Alex took a few steps back down the hall. Turning to face the room, he darted forward, the second he entered the room he dove forward, rolling as he hit the ground. Darts flew from the four statues. Alex used his hands to catapult himself to safety landing on his feet facing the others on the far side of the room. He didn't keep his balance though and fell flat on his ass.

"You jumped a bit early." Johnson shouted as the darts stopped. "Aelita, do you know any speed based moves?"

"I know Agility." She responded.

"Use it as soon as you enter the room and you'll be fine." Cheryl took a few steps back. She dashed towards the room and Johnson caught her arm that she had held out. Johnson swung her around and threw her over the floor. The darts never went as she landed gracefully next to Alex.

"Aelita, just keep moving and nothing is going to happen." Johnson reassured.

"I'm not sure about this." She decided to go with a larger starting distance then Alex and Cheryl. She ran down the hall as used Agility as she entered the room. She was already half way across the room by the time the darts had started to fly. Alex caught as she charged into his arms knocking them both over.

"Congratulations Aelita. You passed unharmed." Cheryl helped the two of them up.

Johnson didn't even back up some before charging. He was one side of the room one second, and standing next to the others a second later.

"How did you do that?" Aelita asked still a bit shaken up from her run.

"Extreme speed. I was clocked at about a hundred and thirty miles per hour when using." Johnson explained. "On to the next chamber." Johnson and Alex lead the way again after he grabbed the golden eye. No longer worrying about every single of the way, the group progressed much faster along the hall to the next room now that they knew what to expect.

As if expecting them, the blazers once again sprung to life. This room was similar in design to the last room, but there were no statues. Instead, most of the floor was filled with tar or something that was very dark in color and bubbling a bit. A small script of runes was on the floor before them.

"Translation?" Cheryl looked to Johnson.

"Only the eye knows thy path." Johnson read the text. Alex pulled out the golden eye he had taken from the previous room.

"The eye knows thy path, huh." Alex looked over to the other end of the room. There lying on a hook beside the door was the second part of the Spellsworn. The side spikes and upper spike of the cross lay waiting for its new master come and collect it, but unlike other crosses, the spikes looked very small sword blades.

"How does that work?" Aelita was confused about the clue.

"The eye is keystone." Cheryl explained.

"And by placing it in the spot, we'll find out how to cross." Alex finished.

"Question is, where is the source stone?" Johnson looked around at the walls while Alex looked at the ceiling. Cheryl looked at the tar covered floor. After a minute searching, the group found what they were looked. A small indentation above the doorway was the perfect size for the golden eye.

"Give me a lift." Alex asked. Johnson and Cheryl both locked their hands together to serve as footholds for Alex to step onto. Once they both had a foot in hand, they gently lifted hi up. Alex placed the eye in the socket and the tar receded just a bit revealing a usable path.

Alex took the eye back and the tar returned to its normal level. "Follow carefully behind me." Alex said.

He took a small step forward, the bottom his boot sunk a few millimeters before it hit solid ground. Everyone followed in Alex's footsteps without getting stuck as they crossed the room.

Alex grabbed the next piece of the cross and inserted the into the center ring. It was a perfect fit.

--

The group continued down the hallway into the final room. As usual, blazers lit the room as they entered. The room before was vastly different from previous ones. It was much larger and seemed to have no traps or anything for that matter. The only thing in the room was a small pedestal that held the bottom spike of the cross that looked like the Kris the golden woman statue back in the worship chamber held.

"This isn't good." Johnson looked into the empty room. He saw no signs of traps and that worried him more then anything else.

"It looks like an empty room. What's the problem?" Aelita asked.

"The fact that it's empty. Spellsworn never leave anything unguarded." Cheryl explained.

After a minute of examining the room from the hallway, they group was unable to find anything. Alex pulled out his ESE and dialed up Andrew.

"Andrew, is there any thing there about the trail of chambers. Any clues about what the trials are?" Alex asked.

"We haven't found anything, what's going on?" Andrew replied.

"We are in the last of the trial chambers. It's a large empty room and the pedestal holding the last piece of the Spellsworn cross is sitting on that pedestal." Johnson explained.

"Unguarded? That has to be some sort of trick." Justin spoke up.

"We be letting ya know should we find something" Bryan finished.

"Thanks, we'll continue looking on this end." Johnson returned his ESE to his pocket just like Alex.

"So, what now?" Cheryl asked.

"We have a few choices. We test our luck and find out the hard way what's guarding this room." Alex held up one finger.

Johnson and Cheryl both shook their heads. "Choice two, we wait and see if Andrew and his team find a clue about what we are going to face in here." Cheryl shrugged while Johnson made no gesture at all.

"Choice three, we continue to carefully examine the room and hope to find a clue of sorts." Once again Cheryl shrugged, but Johnson nodded his head. "I myself am leaning toward the fourth choice however."

"Fourth choice?" Johnson asked.

"Trail and error. We use something as bait to attempt to set off the traps and watch the results." Alex explained.

"And how would we do that?" Aelita asked.

"You know blizzard right?" Alex asked.

"I only just learned it a while back." Aelita responded.

"Then we free the floor and see what happens?" Alex turned back toward the room.

"It is a little risky." Johnson thought it over. "But that could work. Worst case scenario, we suffer minor injuries and lose the bottom end of the cross and have to convince one of the museums who have a copy to loan it to us."

"I guess I'm up for it." Aelita was a bit unsure.

"We've got nothing much to lose here." Cheryl added.

"Alright. Aelita, just aim for the center of the room." Everyone stepped back to give her some room.

Aelita took a few deep breaths before focusing on the room before her. She opened her mouth and let loose a blast of cold air. Snow quickly formed in the room. As a thin layer of ice built up on the floor, the ceiling shifted revealing a large string of holes. A long iron spear dropped from each of the newly formed holes. Aelita refused to let up on her attack and the iron spears were frozen in place as a layer of ice formed over the room.

Aelita couldn't hold out her attack any longer and stopped. The entire area was chilled from the attack, but it dealt with the trapped room. Looking up, there was clear path where it was safe to walk and the spears wouldn't fall on them.

"You did it, Aelita. Look." Alex motioned toward the room. She smiled upon the work she had down.

"Now lets get that last piece of the cross and call it a day." Johnson started into the room careful not to slip on the now icy floor. Cheryl followed suit. Alex walked with Aelita last in line.

About half way to the pedestal, Aelita slipped. She landed hard on her side. Alex quickly knelt down next to her. "You okay?" He asked.

A slight cracking noise above him caught his attention. He looked up to see that a few of the iron above him were breaking free being too heavy for the ice to support. He quickly grabbed onto Aelita who had a look of horror on her face.

The iron spears broke free form the ice and fell down toward Alex and Aelita. Alex's eyes instantly went green giving off a bright light. Johnson and Cheryl watched as their crew was about to be killed. The spears never made contact with Alex or Aelita. Eight large ghostly angelic wings covered them. Each one of them was tinted green and all came out of Alex's back. Aelita was both amazed by the beautiful sight, but also fearful that they may not hold. The spears fell to the side, each one landing with the sound of shattering ice.

Alex looked down at Aelita, he was out of breath and just barely able to keep himself up. "I guess I haven't quite back all of my energy from last week." Alex smiled before falling onto Aelita.

"What was that?" Aelita asked.

"Those wings were one of Alex's spirit forms. You have told her about spirit forms, right?" Johnson asked.

"But I thought that his spirit was a sword." Aelita objected.

"Alex has two basic spirit forms right now. He summons the sword when he needs to fight, but he calls up the wings for protection." Cheryl explained. "It's a good thing he summoned them when he did too."

Johnson walked over the pedestal and using the spear he still in his hands, broke the layer of ice that held it in place. As he took the last piece of the cross, ice along one of the walls began to fracture. A new stone doorway had opened.

"That's our way out." Cheryl pointed to the new doorway.

"Now what happened last week?" Johnson asked.

"I over used my spirit energy big time. Added a new room to the house and then had to fend of against a Typhlosion who tried to take Aelita by force." Alex responded. He was now on one knee.

"You were lucky your wings held out as long as they did." Cheryl exclaimed. "Using that attack, which you still haven't named yet, and then taking on your spirit in the same day. Its you a week and a half alone just to completely recover from using that attack." She knew that Alex would have to take it a bit easier on his spirit energy unless he wanted to pass out.

"As long I don't have to use my spirit form again any time with in the next week, I'll be fine." Aelita helped Alex get up.

"I knew you were kind and sweet, but to think I choose an angel as a mate." Aelita laughed a bit.

"I'm no angel, even with those wings." Alex laughed a bit himself at the joke.

"Come on, this should lead back to the worship chamber." Johnson started down the new hallway. The path lead up and Aelita helped Alex work his way up. Once at the top, they found an indentation in the wall. Johnson fitted the last piece of the cross into the pieces they had and formed a full Spellsworn cross. The eye served as the centerpiece, the top three spikes were all very thin looking sort of like small daggers. As for the bottom spike, it looked like the wavy blade a Kris. If held upside down, it could be used as a weapon, but not a very conventional one. Johnson placed it in the indentation and the opened back up into the worship chamber.

"Been wonderin what be keeping ya." Bryan greeted them.

"I say we call it night. We can explore the next section tomorrow." Andrew offered to which everyone agreed.

Then Justin noticed that Aelita was supporting Alex. "You take a fall, Alex?" he asked.

"Had to use my wings." Alex replied. "Problem was I was still recovering spirit energy from an event that happened last week."

"Ya got to be more careful bout dat." Bryan took over supporting Alex as the group started their way back to the surface. Andrew handed Alex back his necklace before they left the room.

The group hit the surface after the sun had already set. Johnson wasn't too concerned about the pictures taken today, they had to plan for tomorrows events. The crew talked about various things as they had dinner, a light meal of chili, which had been made before they left for the ruins a few days back.

The group went to bed early again to get up for tomorrow's events.

xXx

Aelita was quickly getting into the morning routine of the crew. Wake up by nine, breakfast by nine thirty, and packed up for the ruins by ten. The crew was back in the worship by eleven thirty.

"So, lets see what behind this door." Johnson had the Spellsworn cross in hand. He placed in into the indentation near the door Andrew and his crew had found the day before. The stone door slid to the side.

Torches lit themselves as the full crew walked down the long stone hallway. They were not too concerned about traps yet. After a minute of walking, they entered a large room. The stone walls with various images of Legendary Pokemon. The center of the room had a massive golden statue of a Ho-oh over looking a much smaller version of the woman from the worship chamber.

A large partially filled chest lay at the statue's feet. Gemstone of various kinds and bars made from gold and silver filled the box.

The one detail that caught everyone's attention though were the human skeletons hung by the statue on pillars. Each on had a stake in each hand. A Kris made of silver was pounded through their chests. Each one wore the remains of an old dress and they crew could see necklaces around their necks and rings on their fingers. "Sacrifices." Aelita looked away.

"This is the main chamber." Johnson turned his attention to the golden Ho-oh statue. "We all know the rules. Sweep the room for traps first. No looting bodies. Everything else is a judgement call. We may loot tombs at times, but we have morals."

Aelita and Alex went with Johnson to the statue to inspect it first. Aelita made sure to keep her eyes off the skeletons, but Alex however went to look at them.

After an hour of checking the room, everyone met up with each other to announce what they had found.

"Not too much in terms of other rooms. Found an old storeroom down that hall." Andrew pointed a hallway in the northeastern corner of the room.

"Me and Bryan found a small treasury. Seemed to place where they counted out the offerings before shipping them off to other temples or something." Cheryl explained pointing to a hallway in the southeastern corner of the room.

"I found nothing of interest searching the images on the side of the room." Justin explained.

"I found these. Four sacrificial Kris, all made of gold." Johnson unwrapped the four golden blades from the cloth he had covered them in. Each one has a golden eye on the base of the hilt. "There are unmarked which means that theses were to be used in the sacrifice."

"Those alone will fund this site." Alex spoke up.

"Here's what we found." Aelita held up two necklaces similar to his own, but instead of sapphire tears and a ruby, the gems were swapped. They had ruby tears and a sapphire fang.

"I'm beginning to think I may have ties with the Spellsworn culture." Alex stated.

"That could very well be." Johnson looked the necklaces over. "Unfortunately, we've come no closer to finding out what happened to the Spellsworn."

"What happened to them?" Aelita asked.

"The Spellsworn Empire was in its prime. Many records state that they had their own private kingdom on a string of islands a short ways off the coast. However, one day, all records of them just stopped. Divers had searched for years for the supposed islands off the coast, but there are no traces that they even exist." Cheryl explained.

"Just look around us. A half filled offering chest. Four skeletons still left hanging on the way." Justin motioned toward the center of the room.

"The Spellsworn would normally leave sacrifices up for about week before burning the bodies. As you can see, they just left them hanging." Johnson told her.

"No body knows what happen. One day, day be here, da next, da gone." Bryan told Aelita.

"What few records there are say something about a gateway into paradise. We can only guess as to what happened and why they just vanished." Alex finished.

"They just vanished? That doesn't make sense." Aelita was confused.

"Every explorer has searched for what happened, but no one has found a viable reason." Johnson explained. "That's actually why I became an explorer all those years ago when I was your age. Still haven't found out what happened to em."

The next few hours were spent gathered up items and preparing them to be moved tomorrow morning. The chest that was half filled was emptied and then refilled in a more organized fashion. The only things that the crew took out with them today were the four sacrificial Kris and the two necklaces Alex and Aelita had found.

The crew went through and began documenting the basics of the temple that night before bed. They talked about what all they had found and a few other things. Everyone went to sleep that night knowing that their work at this site was almost done.

xXx

The crew woke up around the same time as yesterday. They had breakfast and then got ready. However, instead of packing up the normal selection of supplies, the crew only took the bare minimum to make room for their finds. They also carried a set of trolleys with them carrying the tow large chests they had found, the offering chest in the main room and a second one in the treasury room. It took some careful maneuvering to get the trolleys past the word puzzle room on the way down, but once done, the rest of the trip down to the chamber was easy.

Once in the chamber, things moved like clockwork. The team began wrapping up more valuable items separately and carefully packed them away in Johnson and Cheryl's packs. Gemstones were bagged by type and packed away. Gold and silver bars were stacked in a chest. Each and every item was tagged and photo was taken then and there. The second chest that they had found was for take home treasures to be split up later. Everything else was either labeled as historic and would be sold to museums cheaply for the world to see or they were marked as trade goods to be sold to Imperial Crafters.

It took well most of the day, but once done, the group had one last thing to take care of.

"Alex, I'll leave this to you." Johnson said.

"What's going on?" Aelita asked.

"We're paying our respects to the four bodies forever trapped in this room." Cheryl informed her. Alex walked over to the first of the four skeletons. He reached up and after a few seconds of struggling, he pulled the knife from the chest of the skeleton. He attacked the knife to a golden chain and carefully hung it around the neck of the skeleton.

"Records show that they sacrifices were buried or burned with the knife used to kill them hung around their necks by a golden chain. They called it a sign of respect for those who up their souls to their gods." Johnson explained. "While we can't offer them a proper burial, we can give them the honor of keeping their blades on golden chains. The runes on each Kris spell out the name of the person sacrificed in this method."

"I think I get it." Aelita watched as Alex pulled the Kris from each body and then hung the Kris on a golden chain around their neck.

Once outside of the room, Johnson removed the Spellsworn cross to seal the room again. "And as our final act with this tomb, we shall make sure that no one disturbs the bodies beyond this room." Johnson bowed his head as Cheryl used her second set of jaws to deform the keystone where Johnson had placed the cross at to open the door.

The trip back to the surface took a while longer. Mostly due to the word puzzle room.

A pair of ropes spanned the length of the room. Tied to the middle of the ropes was one of the chests. Alex walked one side of it while Johnson walked on the side of the chest keeping it on track. Justin was one side of the room pulling the ropes toward himself while Cheryl acted as the brakes on the other side of the room pulling back on the ropes just enough to create some resistance so that the chest would go too far forward. This would have been so much easier except that they had to have the chest switch columns in the middle of the word puzzle.

At one point, Alex fell onto a rigged rune but Johnson caught him. Over all, carrying out the treasures they had found proved to be the biggest challenge, but once they had cleared the word puzzle, it was easy.

They crew made it out of temple late that night. The moon was high in the sky and everyone was tired. They carried their treasure back to the HUMMERs and loaded them before calling it a night.

xXx

The crew spelt in the next morning. It was about by the time the majority of the crew had woken up. The morning was spent packing up and getting ready to leave. The last thing the crew did before they left the site was block off the temple doors so that no one would accidentally walk into the temple and get themselves hurt. It was quite ride back to Kartonu City. The crew headed back to the Dragon's Den right off the back. Johnson had called ahead to get help with unloading the vehicle when they arrived. Both HUMMERs pulled up to the building where there was a pair of Machamp waiting for them.

"Just tell us what goes where, Mr. Yelstien." The first Machamp bowed his head.

"This chest heads to the pent house. The other one heads to the vault." Johnson said. "Cheryl, take our bags up to the room with the others. As for you Bryan, I want you to help me carry a few bags down to the vault."

"Understood mon." Bryan took hold of the bag Johnson had handed him.

Cheryl handed bags out to everyone else to be taken back up to the pent house while the Machamp dealt with the chest.

--

It took an hour, but after everything was unloaded, they crew met up in the study for a post exploration meeting.

"Over all, we've learned nothing about the Spellsworn disappearance." Johnson started the meeting.

"We have found out that my necklace however is indeed related to the Spellsworn Empire." Alex held his necklace up along with the two inverted ones he had collected.

"That is true. What else have we found that is good news?" Johnson asked.

"We have picked up a Spellsworn cross of our now." Justin added holding up the cross.

"We've also have four unmarked sacrificial Kris. Chances are if we can identify when they were made, we might had a good estimate when the Spellsworn vanished." Andrew did have a point there.

After a ten minute meeting, Johnson came to the best part of the post exploration meeting. Johnson opened the chest labeled take home. It was filled with a multitude of gems, rings, coins, and a few other items in it.

"Aelita, here are the rules. It's basically a round robin pick of items. Pick items based on those you want to keep first. Anything you pick is yours to do whatever you want this though." Johnson explained as he laid out the times. The smaller gemstones were divided into small piles that counted as a whole item though.

"But I didn't do much." Aelita was surprised by the fact that she was also given a chance to pick some of the treasure that they had gathered.

"You did your part over the last few days. Besides, its not like we don't have enough to share." Johnson explained. He reached down and picked a small bag of gems.

Alex picked next taking pair of gold coins. Cheryl was next and took a large opal smiling. They all knew she had plans for it. Bryan was next and took a small stack of gems. Justin was up next and took a diamond coin mention something about a growing collection. Andrew took a pair of gold coins as well.

"Alright Aelita, take your pick." Johnson motioned to the treasure before them.

"Okay." She looked over the choices before.

"Just to let you know, there is jeweler in town. If you see a gemstone you want in a ring or on a necklace, he's more then willing to make it make em." Cheryl told her.

A small emerald caught her. It was round with a somewhat red center and reminded her Alex's eyes when he had saved her once from Michael and again from the spears a few days ago.

This round robin picking order continued until everyone had a small collection of treasure to call his or her own. Aelita was very happy to have come on the trip. She had met the Johnson, a world famous explorer, Alex had given her the best birthday she could ask for, she had also met the people Alex could call his family, but most of all, she had spent the week with Alex learning more about him.

xXx

End notes: I'll be taking a vacation for the next week, not sure if I'll get any writing done. Also, I'm sorry if the chapter seems a but down from the others, a few things have come up in the family.


	6. Chapter 6

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

xXx

Chapter 6

After the five days spent at the Spellsworn temple grounds, the crew was glad to have Saturday to themselves. The day was spent relaxing. Other then a few phone calls, the crew spent the day in peace. Alex and Aelita spent most of the day at one of the pools leaving the others to do whatever. Nothing really happened until that night.

The group had gathered in the dining room. Cheryl passed out some fancy wineglasses while Johnson held a fresh new bottle of Kartonu Silver Sun in his hands. It was a very light brand of wine; the alcoholic content was so low, that it could hardly be called an alcoholic drink. People never bought it for its alcohol though, but rather the sweet taste it had with a mix of berry flavors that seemed to be enjoyed by almost everyone. A few private high schools even offered the drink at a few very rare occasions. Pokemon strangely seemed to be able to keep their heads much longer then a human when drinking and seeing how rare a pure human was at the time, the drinking age had been lowered to seventeen.

"Tonight, we celebrate a job well done." He poured the first of the seven cups. "Minimal injuries." He filled the second and third cups to match the first. "A Spellsworn Cross." The fourth and fifth cups were filled like the ones before them. "However, what we celebrate most of all is not from the temple." Johnson paused for a second looking at Aelita and Alex. "What we celebrate most of all is fact that Alex has found a mate." He filled the last two cups.

Alex smiled as Cheryl, Bryan, Justin, Andrew, and Johnson all took a cup and raised them to Alex and Aelita. "May long life and happiness follow the both of you." Johnson and Cheryl handed the last two cups to Alex and Aelita. Aelita was very surprised by the speech, but Alex seemed to be expecting it.

"I had a feeling you would pull a stunt like this." Alex took his glass as Aelita took hers.

"I wasn't expecting anything like this." Aelita admitted. The group all took a small sip of the drink except Aelita. She seemed unsure about it at first, but after a second she tried it. Johnson and the crew's surprise wasn't over yet as they had also pulled out a small cake for the crew. The remainder of the night was spent celebrating a job well done along with the fact that Alex had found a mate.

--

Alex and Aelita spent Sunday morning getting ready to return back to the mountain and the city of Nenwill. Alex and Aelita both packed up their fancy dress clothes for the dance Aelita had wanted Alex to go to. He knew that he would have to add a closet to the house when they got back to hold their dress clothes until the night of the dance. The last thing that Alex did was separate the treasure he had chosen as his own into two piles, one to be sold and one to be kept. Aelita did the say only keep a few gemstones and a silver necklace. Once both of them were ready, Justin helped them bring their things down to the garage where Aelita got a look at Justin's vehicle of choice, a fully equipped Mustang.

"I'll be staying in Nenwill for about two weeks." Justin informed them as they finished loading up the jeep. "My brother will be meeting me there. If you need a ride to the dance I heard the two of you were going to, just give me a call." Justin said as they got into the car.

It was a long five-hour ride back to Nenwill. Justin dropped the two of them off and left them for the hotel he had gotten himself after he had helped them unload.

Alex and Aelita carried their things to the bedroom. "Just set them down for a second." Alex told Aelita. She obeyed wondering what Alex had in mind. He walked over to corner of the room and pressed his hands onto the wall. "We need a closet."

Aelita quickly knew what Alex was planning. He gathered his spirit energy into his hands and began to push on the wall. Just like when Alex had formed the dining room, the wall began to bend and shift into the basic shape of a doorway. Once it was a few inches into the wall, Alex gave it one final push and the closet was finished.

A large stone bar extended from one side of the closet to the other just a few inches from the ceiling. Alex fell to his knees. Like always, the immediate loss of energy had gotten to him. However, since it was only a very small room, Alex was quickly able to get back up by himself. "And now we have our closet." Alex's breathing was a bit hard.

The two of them packed their things and while there was still some light out, they headed to town for a few things. A quick look at Alex's fridge told Alex that he needed to refill it soon. Rather then dig around for something, Alex offered to take Aelita out for dinner that night. The two of them stopped at a local Diner. Alex had been there a few times, the service was good, the food was great, and the prices were fair. Alex had a burger with Aelita had a salad.

They two of them left the diner as the sun had began to set. The just barely made it back to Alex's place before the sun had set. They spent the night in peace and quite.

xXx

Alex was up early on Monday morning. Following his normal morning ritual, he took a quick a shower, got dressed then started breakfast as Aelita took a shower herself. Aelita came out of the shower to find a pair of eggs and small sum of berries waiting for her.

After breakfast, the two of them prepared to leave for school. The two of them walked in the calm morning air to the school.

They entered the building and Alex made his way to purchase two tickets to the up-coming dance while Aelita went to stop by her locker.

A few of the students who had shown up early had just finished getting the stand set up for students to buy tickets for the dance. "Alex, you're not here to buy tickets are you?" the first girl asked. She was a Lucario just slightly shorter then Alex.

"For once, I am." Alex responded pulling out his wallet.

"So, who is the lucky girl to get to go out with the famous Whitewing." A second girl asked, this one a Flaaffy walked up.

"Famous? Whitewing? Perhaps you could fill me in on this whole famous thing." The Lucario handed Alex a copy of the morning paper. There on the front page were three images. The first of the whole exploration crew from the ceremony the week before last, the second image was Johnson, and the final was of Alex. The headline read "The sixth member of the Yelstien Exploration Crew Alex Whitewing finally makes himself known."

"You should have told us that you went exploring with William Yelstien." The Flaaffy commented.

"And that is why I never went to any of the other ceremonies." Alex had an unhappy look on his face.

"Other ceremonies?" The two girls looked at each other.

"Don't bother asking, you won't get an answer. All I want are just two tickets to the dance." Alex sighed at his luck. The Lucario handed him the two tickets and after paying for them, he headed back up to meet Aelita reading the paper on the way. There was a detailed list of events surrounding the exploration including a list of what all Alex had suffered. He stopped reading halfway through the article.

Aelita had just finished gathering her books for the first few periods when Alex came up to greet her with a slightly annoyed look on his face.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm on the front page of the papers." Alex replied handing her the paper he had been given.

"What?" Aelita was very surprised. She quickly read the article. "You did read this article, right?"

"Just part of it. No need to read the rest, I can already guess what it says." Alex knew that this was going to cause him trouble. He liked his peace and quite. It was bad enough when just a small number of students had tracked him down to ask him questions about how he got Aelita to be his mate. He'd be lucky to be left alone after people read that he was connected with Johnson.

--

Alex and Aelita headed down to the library to wait for the day start. If anything, it was quite. Aelita and Alex headed for their first class, Biology, as the bell rang. As Alex walked down the halls, the majority of people did one of two things. They either greeted him saying that it must be great to work with Yelstien or they made comments about how there was no way he could work with Yelstien. Either way, Alex was not happy about the sudden increase in attention he was getting.

Class started like any other class, a quick check of who was there and who wasn't and the collection of papers that needed to be turned in. Miss Decon, the Heracross was their teacher. "Break up into to groups of two or three." She instructed. Alex and Aelita already knew that they would team up for the assignment, but that didn't stop half the class from trying to join them in a group. It was a quick project involving the data collected from the trip to the Suicune falls two weeks ago. The groups had to take the data they collected and then identify where each group of dragons was from based on the data they collected. The class passed quickly.

Alex and Aelita went their different ways for second period. Alex had Honors English while Aelita had her math class to go to. Alex headed for the back of the room to seat by himself like normal, but that didn't happen. Many other students all wanted to seat by him because he made it into the papers.

Alex moved on to third period history and like he did with all of his classes, he headed for the back of the room. If not for the Aelita had already picked a seat in the back before Alex got there, she wouldn't have gotten a seat next to Alex. Luckily, the class was watching a movie on the history of Kartonu City. This meant Alex was able to avoid people asking him about anything as the whole class knew that anyone caught breaking a rule in Mr. Getter's class wouldn't be there for long. He was by far the strictest teacher in the whole school, but no one knew more about the history of the Welforth and Kanto regions then he did.

Fourth and fifth periods were no better then first or second. A large number of students all seemed to want to find out how Alex was connected with Johnson. For once, Alex did not manage to complete his homework in class during the last few minutes of each class. Most of the time, he could just look at the problems and do all the work in his head, but with the endless stream of questions that people sent his way, he couldn't completely concentrate on his work.

Lunch was even worse. Alex grabbed a small pouch of berries he had always packed for lunch and he made his way for the same tree he always sat under. Upon leaving the building, he saw three other students there as if waiting for him, so he went to sit on a lone bench by the school. Not even a few minutes after he sat down, a pair of cheerleaders sat down next to him. Before they could even say hi, he got up and jumped up into nearby tree with a slightly angry look on his face. He sat up in the tree in peace until lunch ended and he had to go back to class.

Sixth and seventh periods were no different from the rest of the day. Students crowded around his desk, everyone asked to be his partner for group projects, and then there was the unending stream of questions. Alex was really being tested that day. He got a break though when another teacher requested his help during eighth period. His last period for the day, gym was also a bit better. The two teachers for the class made sure to the students moving around the track that had been set up.

School ended and as Alex headed to the library, he had a small group of students there behind him. He decided then to head back to his place. "Let's just head back to my place." Alex offered to which Aelita agreed.

--

It was fair walk back, but luckily, no one decided to follow him.

Once at Alex's house, the both of them sat down and talked for a while. Alex actually did some talking which really seemed to please Aelita. Alex remembered that he needed to refill the fridge again and he two of them headed out to the local supermarket. Alex picky to a degree about what food he picked up. It wasn't that he was a picky eater, it was just that he wasn't going to buy something just to have it go to waste. With Aelita there, he picked up an additional bag of food before walking back to his place. With the fridge restocked for another two or three weeks, there wasn't much else that needed done that night.

xXx

The next day was no better. Almost everyone who had not read about Alex yesterday now knew about his connection with Johnson. The day was spent pretty much the same as yesterday just trying to keep his cool. He even spent his lunch period on the school roof to avoid a number of students.

By the end of seventh period of the second day however, Alex had just about had enough. He had played it calmly from the start of the day and all of yesterday, but this endless stream of people asking questions, making comments, and refusing to leave his side was getting on his last nerve. He walked into his eighth period class, an advanced independent living class. Like the rest of classes he had been to, students surrounded his seat all the way in the back corner of the class. He just set his few notebooks down at an empty table near the door. No sooner had he set his notebooks down, the same pair of cheerleaders from lunch the day before sat down on by him smiling and waving at him.

"Okay class, we're going to pick up where we left off yesterday." The teacher, Mrs. Debra Storm, a Raichu told the class. Alex already flipped his notebook to the page containing the notes needed for the lesson.

"I heard you bought some tickets to the dance." The first one, a Blaziken by the name Lillian Jewels opened her notebook. "You could always take me." She offered.

"Or me." The second one, a Buizel by the name of Kristen Northsky added.

"I'm going with my mate, or did the two of you forget that fact." Alex replied. The two of them continued to ask him questions quietly as the class went on. Finally, Alex had had enough.

"Look." He stood straight up earning him the attention of the whole class. His fangs, which were normally hidden away, flipped down for all to see. His dark red pupils showed his anger and gave him the slight appearance of vampire. "That's it. You people have been hounding me all day asking for dates, trying to find out how I got to know William Yelstien, and throwing comments at me about my rotten luck in that damn ruins site. Just shut up and leave me alone. I never wanted to go that ceremony anyway and this is the reason why!" He shouted, his fist clenched down.

"Alex Whiteheart. I'm surprised. Of all the people to pull a stunt like that, you were the last person I would have thought of." Mrs. Storm walked over to him. The rest of the class appeared to be in shock. Of all the people to cause a disruption of any kind, people just thought Alex wasn't even capable of such a thing. "You can discuss this with the principal." She pointed to the door.

Alex closed his book, bowed his head and spoke a few words before leaving. "You have my apologizes Mrs. Storm. The rest of you who have been hounding me do not." With these words, Alex calmly walked out of the room and down the halls.

--

He reached the office where the principal had just finished her own lunch.

"Alex, I assume you're here to drop something off for Mrs. Storm." Luna said as she entered the office.

"Actually, I'm here to see you. I'm responsible for a rather big disruption in class." Alex began.

"I just don't see you as the type of person to cause a disruption." She questioned as she Alex to her office.

"You recall yesterdays headline?" Alex asked.

"No, I wasn't given a chance to read yesterday's paper yet or today's paper for that matter. I've been very busy both here and at home." She replied. Alex grabbed a spare copy of the paper and handed it to her.

"You actually attended a ceremony?" She began to read the article.

"The site in question is the same one where I got hit by those three darts among other things. You'll probably get a full list in the article." Alex informed her. "As for the ceremony, Johnson requested that I go or he wouldn't accept the award. It went my usual take on such things, but I went."

"Might I ask how this causes a disruption in class." She was now curious.

"I like my privacy and being left alone. All day, I've had to put it with people making comments, asking me questions, and just wanting to spend time with me whether I wanted the company or not. Personally, I'm surprised I lasted as long as I did." Alex took a seat and leaned back some looking at the ceiling.

"I see." Luna said as she took a seat herself. "I do hope that this will be a one time incident. We can't have you going around disrupting all of your classes."

"This is going to effect my rights to go to the dance this Friday, would it?" Alex asked.

"You? Once again another first." Luna smiled. "You're one of our almost perfect students. I can let this slide as long as it doesn't happen again anytime soon."

The bell sounded indicating the end of eighth period. "Now get a move on. You don't want to miss your gym class."

--

Alex went down the locker room and changed out of his usual clothing and into his gym clothes, a black T-shirt with a pair of cargo shorts.

He joined the rest of the gym class in the primary gymnasium of the school. It had to other small ones, but they were not used often. Aelita ran over to his side wearing her gym clothes consisting of a pink shirt with a pair of red shorts. "Alex, you didn't really disrupt a class, did you?" She asked. Word had already starting spreading through out school.

"I lost my tempter. You know how much I hate it when people are constantly trying to get into my life and I don't want them there." Alex lowered his head some.

"It's alright. I understand." Aelita looked up at him as the teachers starting calling off names.

As usual, Alex was one of the top four students who lead the way on the four laps around the gym. The only three that were able to keep the speed that was set were a pair of Pikachus and an Arcanine, all three of which were known for their speed. For that matter, Alex was in the top five of every obstacle he had come across. All those explorations had kept his body in the best possible shape he could be in terms of speed and agility.

--

Alex was glad to have the rest of the day to himself. Aelita had suggested a trip to Suicune Falls to help clear Alex's head. The park was more then happy to let him and Aelita in, after all, Alex had helped the park out a few times before. The remainder of the daylight hours were spent watching various feral Pokemon in the park.

xXx

The rest of the week went much smoother for Alex. Word about his out burst spread quickly. Many students still said hi or waved at him, but the number of questions and people who decided to hound him went down considerably. He seemed much calmer now that the majority of students were not bothering him as much.

Finally came the night of the dance. Alex and Aelita both got dressed in the same clothing they had worn to the ceremony that Imperial Crafters had thrown Johnson and the crew. Aelita decided against wearing any fancy heels this time and just went bare paw like many students would no doubt go.

Justin arrived and picked them around seven forty. It was a quick ride to the school during which, Alex helped put Aelita's diamond choker back on for the night. The students who had seen Justin pull up in his Mustang and drop off Alex and Aelita were surprised.

Alex walked up the gym doors and presented his tickets granting him access to the dance. Everyone was dressed in fancy dresses and well made tuxedos. It was a little fancy for Alex's tastes, but he had agreed to go knowing all to well that this was the case. The two walked in as the next song began. Alex looked around seeing how much he was going to have to deal with during the hour or two that he was here. Aelita managed to get Alex to the dance floor by the time the second song had started.

Surprisingly, Alex was more then able to dance. Alex looked on and seeing how happy he had made Aelita by coming was good enough for him. After three dances, the two of them headed over to one of the various tables where a few of Aelita's friends had gathered.

No sooner had she sat down, her friends noticed her choker.

"Aelita, where did you get that?" An Espeon by the name of Joanna asked.

"Yea, it's not everyday that you walk in with a diamond choker." Samantha, a Mismagius commented.

"Alex bought me the dress and the choker for my birthday." She explained.

"I finally understand why you wanted him as a mate." Joanna looked at Alex.

"I wanted him as my mate before I even knew he worked with Johnson." Aelita told them.

"Johnson?" They both asked.

"She means William Yelstien." Alex informed them.

"Oh. Still, it must be nice to work with someone so famous. Lots of money, fame, and of course being able to travel around the world." Samantha smiled dreaming about being able to travel wherever she wanted whenever she wanted to.

"I'd be happy with just the fame and the money." Joanna said.

Aelita talked with her friends for a while Alex just sat there content to keep quite until Aelita wanted to dance again. Aelita took him out for another three songs before Alex's leg got the better of him and he had to call it quits for a while.

--

There was little to no trouble for most of the night. Alex stepped outside for a minute to get some fresh air and to get away from the crowd. He looked to the sky counting the stars that had started to show. A small sound caught his ears. He moved along the side of the building where he had heard the sound come from. He came upon a feral Mightyena who had gotten himself stuck in a garbage can. Alex was careful to free the canine. Once free, it ran into the woods. Alex happy with what he had done decided to go back before Aelita had gotten worried and came looking for him.

He started walking back toward the doors when he heard another sound. He sighed thinking that the Mightyena from before had gotten stuck again. He turned and walked over to the trashcans, but didn't see anything. He heard the noise again and headed down past the garbage cans to see a Machamp pinning the Lucario who had sold Alex the ticket at the beginning of the week.

"Come on, what's the point in turning me down?" He asked. He had his upper pair hands on her shoulders while one of his lower hands rubbed her face and the other one rubbed her stomach.

"I told you to leave me alone." She tried to break free of his hold.

"There's no use denying it. I can tell how much you want it just by smelling the air around you." He continued to hold her.

"I'd rather mate with a feral Golem then you." She snapped back at him. Alex could smell something in the air. He looked on for a second wondering how a few Pokemon still went into heat despite the fact that they were no longer Feral before he walked up to where the two were arguing.

"Is there a problem here?" Alex asked.

"Back off. I don't care if you are famous, this is none of your business. Now just leave me and Danette alone." The Machamp snapped at him.

"Do want help getting him off of you?" Alex asked Danette.

"Yes, I could use some help." She responded once again trying to break free of his grip.

"Look boy. Even if you wanted to, how do you expect to beat me. You're nothing more then a human." The Machamp taunted.

"That's evolved human. And let's just say I hold a grudge against those who try to rape others." Alex informed the Machamp. Seeing a slight break in his hold, Danette delivered a powerful kick to the Machamps groin, but held his ground despite the pain.

"Why you little. I'll make you pay." The Machamp shouted drawing back a fist to hit her. Alex fired off a single Spirit Surge into the Machamp's face knocking him over and freeing Danette.

"What is with you guys who participate in the tournaments. I swear over half of you enjoy forcing others to do what you want them to." Alex took a defensive stance knowing that a direct assault was pointless. Danette just ran over to him. Alex's were slowly turning green.

--

Aelita walked outside to try and find Alex. He had told her that was going to get a bit of fresh air. She looked out the door and didn't see him. A slight bit of worry covered her face, but she he was going to be fine.

--

The Machamp charged forward, all four of fists drawn back. Alex ducked low and spun his leg out. A simple attack, but very effective. The Machamp fell forward right into the trashcans.

--

Aelita the crash and walked over to see what had happened. On the other side of the trashcans stood Alex with Danette beside him. In the pile of now knocked over trashcans was the Machamp.

"Alex, what happened?" Aelita asked as she walked to Alex and Danette.

"Keith tried to rape me because I'm in my first heat cycle." Danette explained.

The Machamp managed to stand shaking off the effects from the fall. "I'm gonna show you why that damn Typhlosion was the only who ever managed to beat me."

"Give me some room." Alex said as he took a defensive stance again. He knew all the weak points on a feral Machamp and could easily take one down, but he was unsure whether those same points were shared with their anthro counterparts.

Keith charged again. Alex moved to the side and jumped up some. He delivered a swift kick the back of Keith's head sending him into the wall. Keith was quickly growing angry. A few students heard the bang against the wall and went to check it out.

Keith was back to the fight a few seconds later. Alex ducked under a Mega Punch landing on his back. Keith brought his foot up and went to bring it down on Alex, but Danette fired an Aura Sphere to knock him off balance. He landed hard on his back. "Come here." Keith went to go get up and charge Danette but Alex fired a Spirit Surge into his back causing him to fall forward. He caught himself though and easily got back to his feet.

"I'm your opponent here." Alex shouted as a group of students began to gather around them.

Keith charged again and Alex jumped to the side. The students started calling out names cheering on the two. Alex landed and his leg gave out causing him to fall down to one knee. He looked up just in time to take a Mega Punch to the face sending him back. Blood dripped from the side of his mouth as he leaned against the wall. Keith charged over ready to knock Alex out.

Alex knew his options were limited at this point. Eight ghostly green wings sprouted from his back tearing up the back of his Tuxedo. The angel like wings all extended out as far as they could. The came down creating a powerful whirlwind type attack sending Keith flying back into the trees as a few of the teachers arrived. No one could believe the sight before them as Alex's eight wings went to rest on his back. Other students began to whisper to each other about the wings as they slowly faded off. Luna Hope, the principal showed up just as Alex's began to fade away.

"What happened here?" She demanded.

"Alex just kicked Keith's ass." One of the other students said.

"Keith tried to rape me because I've just started my first heat cycle." Danette quietly explained to Luna not wanting everyone to overhear about the fact that she was in heat.

"I understand." Luna whispered back.

Keith slowly got up and prepared to attack again. His suit was torn, his back was bruised, and his was almost knocked out. He wasn't about let Alex get away with nearly knocking him out in front of the whole school. Luna turned toward him, her eyes glowing a light shade of blue and he backed knowing that if she intervened, there would be nothing he could do. Not only was there a type disadvantage, but she had far more experience then he did.

"I want to see you in my office." She informed him. "Alex and Danette. I'd like to talk with you as well. As for the rest of you, back to the dance." She announced. Everyone except for Keith, Alex, Danette, and Aelita headed back to the dance. Alex unfortunately had a much more noticeable limp in his walk using his right leg as little as possible. They stopped by the nurse's office to pick up a crutch for Alex as well as wipe off most of the blood from his face before making their way to the office.

--

The group of five walked to Luna's office. Keith led the way with Luna standing between him and the others. Aelita was asked to wait outside while Luna had a talk with the others.

"Okay, now I have a general idea as to what happened. I am going to have to read minds or can we talk this over?" She asked. One little factor as to why she was such a good principal was the fact that she almost always got the truth in physical disagreements.

"I can tell you what happened after I showed up to see Keith holding Danette against the wall." Alex started.

"What are you talking about. You started this fight by attacking me first." Keith yelled.

"Please. You started it when you pinned against that wall." Danette shouted back.

"Quite. I won't have you all yelling in my office." Luna stood up. "Danette, you first. Everyone else quite."

"I thought Keith was better then he turned out to be. I knew I was going into my first heat cycle and I thought that Keith wouldn't care. He proved me wrong." Danette started. "At first, the dance was fun. Then I wanted to go out and grab some air. Just walk around a bit. Keith asked to go with me and I didn't see a problem with it. Once we rounded the corner past the gym, he made a pass at me and I turned him down, but he didn't stop. A few minutes later, he pinned me to the wall."

"Liar. You…" Keith started but found himself unable to talk. Luna used her psychic abilities to silence him.

"I said quite." Luna warned him.

"That's when Alex showed up. He asked if I needed some help and I told him yes. I felt Keith lighten up on his grip on me and I took m chance to get him off and kicked him. Alex then forced Keith off me before he could hit me. Keith then threw an attack at Alex and for a while, Keith couldn't touch Alex. Then it looked like Alex tripped and Keith threw him into the wall with a Mega Punch. I'm not sure how, but Alex grew those wings of his and used a whirlwind attack to throw Keith back before he could land another hit." Danette finished.

"Now Keith, lets hear your story." Luna released her grip on his voice.

"You liar. You made the first move and kept teasing me. Then when I finally asked it you wanted to mate with me, you go and say no. I never pinned you to the wall. Alex showed and threw an attack at me first." Keith shouted.

"I can tell your lying. If you won't give me the truth, then you can be quite. Alex, tell me what happened from the time you showed up." Luna instructed.

"For all intensive purposes, I let my emotions get the better of me. I have a strong hate for people who rape others and refuse to stand on the sidelines if I can do something about it. I walked up and asked what was going on. Keith told to leave. I asked Danette if she needed any help and she said yes." Alex began. "Keith mocked for being a human. Danette kicked Keith just as she had said. I fired Spirit Surge and knocked him to the ground before he could strike back at her. His physical strength far outmatches my own, there wasn't much else I could do. I managed to knock Keith off of Danette and she ran to my side. Keith then came after me. I avoided or blocked his first few attacks. At one point, I jumped back landing on my back to avoid another attack and Keith was about to slam his foot on top of me. Danette fired an Aura Sphere to knock him off balance. I was then back to holding my own until my leg out and Keith landed a direct hit on me. I flew into the wall. At that point, my options were very limited and I took on my spirit form to defend myself."

"I see. I take that those wings were you spirit form. I remember you telling me a bit about spirit forms early on in the year." Luna asked.

"Yes, I did have my wings as my spirit form, although, I was kind of expecting a sword instead as I felt I needed something more offensive at the time." Alex informed them.

"It was best that you didn't summon a sword as I would have to punish you for wielding a non-natural weapon on school grounds. Now that I now what has happened, I can make my judgment on the matter. Keith, you will be suspended until further notice. I'll be removing you from all tournaments this year and possibly next year. You will show up here on Monday with you parents to discuss this matter further." Luna explained to Keith who said nothing. Luna was now looking at Danette. "Danette, you are welcome to return to the dance if you so wish without any consequences. Since the two attacks you have made were in self-defense, I'll not punish you for the events that have taken place tonight."

"Thank you, but I think I'll just get a ride home." Danette got up and walked off pulling out her phone.

Luna then turned to Alex. "Alex, as events with you are so rare, I'm simply going to have to ask you to leave the dance. Since I believe your part in this ordeal was defending Danette, I shall not suspend you. Be warned however, that next time an event like this happens, I will be forced to take further actions. I'll also be informing William of the incident."

"I understand. You do have a job here, but I'd like a chance to let Johnson know of this myself. Can you wait to call him until tomorrow night. I'll have to wait for my ride to get here before I can leave though." Alex knew that Luna would have to take stronger actions next time he was in a fight for any reason.

"Very well, I'll call him about what has happened tomorrow night. I can trust that he'll be expecting my call. I am sorry that your first time attending a school dance was not so pleasant." Luna got up and followed Alex out of the office.

"Alex, what happened?" Aelita asked.

"I've been asked to leave the dance because of the fight. I'm sorry things turned out this way." Alex informed her. "I can ask Justin to come pick you up later if you want to stay."

"No, there's not much point is staying if you won't be here." Aelita told him. She picked up a few tissues for box and gently wiped some of the blood from Alex's face. Alex took the tissues from Aelita and gently placed them where the blood had been dripping down the side of his mouth only to quickly draw his hand back. "What was that about?"

Alex lifted up the right side of his upper lip and Aelita could see a fracture in his fang. "Is my fang still there?" Alex asked.

"It's fractured." Aelita informed him.

"That explains the blood." Alex reached up and lightly grabbed the fang. "This is gonna hurt." He whispered to himself. He gave the fang a quick jerk and the fang cracked through the rest of the way. A sudden pain filled his mouth where he had broken his fang off. Alex let out deep breath as the pain subsided muttering some inaudible comment under his breath.

"Alex?!" Aelita was surprised by his sudden action of pulling out the fang.

"It'll grow back in about two or three weeks. Its not the first time I've lost a fang." Alex told her.

Alex called Justin who showed up a few minutes later. Alex filled Justin in on the way.

xXx

Alex and Aelita were dropped off and they changed back into their normal clothes. Alex just looked at the back of his Tuxedo, which was badly torn where his wings had forced their way out. He still couldn't understand why he had summoned his wings though rather then summon the Lunar Star. Rather then continue to worry about it though, he dismissed his thoughts on the matter.

He pulled out his phone to call Johnson and explained the event for a third time that night. While Johnson wasn't happy about it, he knew why Alex had chosen to take a more direct approach given what Alex had told him. Alex then limped his way to the kitchen where he had stashed away a pair of crutches for the days his leg was at its worst.

Alex and Aelita sat down on the couch for a while. "I'm sorry about the dance." Alex apologized again. "If there is something I can do to make it up to you, just ask and I'll see what I can do about it."

"It's fine. Danette's just lucky that you showed up when you did." Aelita smiled. "If you hadn't shown up when you did, there's no telling what Keith might have done to her."

"True." Alex replied adjusting his leg which still hurt more then normal, but not enough to cause him anything more then mild discomfort.

"How's you leg? It looked like you might have twisted it in the fight." Aelita looked as his leg. There were no bruises, but that didn't mean much.

"It hurts more then normal. Don't think I'll be able to walk on it normally for a day or so." Alex informed her. He looked around pulling out his phone to see if there was anything big going on this weekend that may have to be changed. Looking at the calendar, he saw it was almost the end of the month. "Uh oh."

"What's up?" Aelita asked concerned about why Alex was worried.

"Didn't your father say he'd be back at the end of the month?" Alex asked.

"That's right, he did." Aelita remembered the phone call quite well.

"And we still haven't told him about us." Alex dropped a bit thinking about how Mr. Kilter would take it.

"We should have said something sooner." Aelita now felt the same worry that Alex had.

Mr. Samuel Kilter wasn't an overly protective dad; he was just attached to his daughter only wanting the best for her.

Aelita was one of the few reasons Samuel had kept up with his life after his wife, Erika had died of a disease. Erika died shortly after Aelita met Alex. In a strange way, Aelita sort of copied Alex's enclosed personality for a few weeks until she had recovered from the event. Her father hid it well from others, but he was deeply hurt by the loss of his love. He kept a closer eye on Aelita not wanting to lose the last of his family.

His mother and father had passed away shortly before Aelita was born and Erika's parents never really approved of the man she had married claiming that he cared too much about his job. Sure he was gone for weeks at a time, but he was always there when they needed most. He cherished his time with his family.

If not for the large pay he received for his job, he would have quit long ago and tried to find another job. However, with the money he was making, he was more then able to provide for his family and give them what they deserved. He even made sure to work out something with his boss to take only out of region jobs when no one else could do them just to spend more time with his family.

"Well, the way I see it, one of three things can happen. He will accept that fact that we have become and give us his blessing." Alex counted off the possibilities on his fingers. "He could not accept our choice, try to talk you out of it, but in the end live with our decision." Alex took a deep breath before naming the third possibility. "Or, lets pray to Arceus that he doesn't go with option three, load that rifle of his and hunt me down for taking your virginity even if was your choice to let me take it from you. Either way, I'll be by your side."

"Not many people know my father. If they did, they wouldn't have been so eager to try and go out with me before we became mates." Aelita admitted.

Alex's phone began to ring. "Hello?" Alex picked up the phone. An image of Samuel showed up. He was standing in an airport. "Mr. Kilter?" Alex was surprised.

"Did I interrupt anything?" The tall Absol asked.

"No, nothing at all. I just wasn't expecting you're call for another day at least." Alex quickly replied.

"I assume my daughter is there with you." Samuel asked.

"One sec." Alex adjusted the phone. Aelita stood up behind the couch so that both of them were in the image.

"Hello." Aelita was happy to see her father's face regardless of conversation she had just had with Alex about him. "Are you coming home anytime soon?"

"I'll be home tomorrow. I'm catching a late flight out of here and should be there in the morning." Samuel told them. "I hope that week with Alex at the temple went well."

"It went quite well. The only real injury was a slip on some ice. Before you ask about Ice in the Welforth Region, we used a blizzard to manually set off a trap." Alex informed him.

"Nothing as bad as what I've read in the papers I hope." Samuel held up a copy of last week's paper with Alex on the front page.

"That made it out there two. Come on." Alex was not happy about that.

"Anything involving Yelstien is world news." Samuel told them.

"Hey dad, look what Alex got me for my birthday." Aelita lifted her chin to show her father her diamond choker.

"Is that real?" Samuel asked.

"I had a few extra thousand lying around when I got back to Kartonu City. A private collector bought one of gems I found on a previous site." Alex told him. "Speaking of which. When I return to Kartonu City next time, Aelita may very well have a large sum of cash waiting for her."

"What are you talking about?" Samuel was confused. How would his daughter possibly have a large sum of money waiting for her?

"Johnson let me have a share of the treasure we found." Aelita cheered. "I never knew he was so nice."

"I see. I guess you'll be wanting to head back to Kartonu City in a few weeks then." Samuel nodded his head. "Well, if that's all, I'll see you once I get back tomorrow." Alex whispered something to Aelita who, after a few second of thinking nodded her head. "Is there something else I should know about?"

"Mr. Kilter. There is something we need to tell you." Alex gulped worried about how he might take the news.

"Promise us you won't lose your temper over it though." Aelita leaned in closer to Alex.

"Okay, what is it? You haven't hurt my daughter have you?" Samuel was slightly worried now.

"No, but it does involve the two of us." Alex moved his thumb over the power button just in case.

"I've chosen my mate, father." Aelita hesitated a bit not knowing how her father would take the news.

"And just who did you choose?" Samuel took a very sudden serious tone.

"Alex." She told him.

"Alex?" Samuel repeated making sure he had heard her clearly.

"Yes, me. Your daughter has asked me to be her mate and I accepted." Alex slowly confirmed Aelita's story.

"When?" Samuel asked.

"About three weeks ago. The morning after Michael trying to take your daughter to be exact." Alex told Samuel.

"And am I expecting any grandchildren?" He demanded.

"No." Aelita responded. "Not yet at least."

"Alex." Samuel looked straight at Alex.

"Yes?" Alex could already fell the stress getting to him.

"I'll be cleaning my rifle when I get back. If you hurt my daughter in any way, I'll have your name etched into a bullet and hunt you down." Samuel warned Alex. "We'll talk more on the subject when I get back. If the two of you aren't at my house by six tomorrow evening, there will be problems."

"We'll be there." Alex said.

"Now then, take care of my daughter." Samuel hung up leaving Alex tensed up and Aelita sighing in relief that the worst of it was over.

"That went better then I thought." She said.

"At least he won't kill me." Alex let out a long breath of air.


	7. Chapter 7

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:  
-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.  
xXx This will identify where each paragraph breaks.  
(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

xXx

Chapter 7

Alex prepared a late dinner shortly after the two of them got done talking with Aelita's father over the phone. It was little difficult for two reasons. The first was that Alex was leaning on a crutch keeping weight off of his leg. The second reason was his mind was else where at the time. Alex was so worried, he almost burned the fish and potatoes he was frying. Aelita managed to keep him on track though and thus, the meal turned out fine. Once again, they ate on the couch.

"I think I'd rather take on a Spellsworn dungeon gauntlet then face your father after what he said." Alex said as he poured himself a glass of water before returning to Aelita in the living room.

"I know you're worried, but he won't hurt you." Aelita told Alex.

"How sure are you on that?" Alex asked.

"He's protective of me, but he's understanding. I have no doubt he'll cleaning his rifle, but he won't use it." Aelita explained. "He never has." Both of them were worried. Alex was concerned about his safety and Aelita was concerned about how her father was taking the news. They continued to talk for while. Alex was still forced to use his crutches, so he was going to put off cleaning the dishes until tomorrow. Aelita however volunteered to do them for Alex.

It was a quick chore and once done, Aelita returned to Alex on the couch for a while. It was getting late and the two of them headed to his room to get some sleep before their talk with Samuel tomorrow afternoon.

xXx

The night passed quickly as the sun began to rise. Alex had slept somewhat peacefully with Aelita lying on his chest, her arms wrapped around him. She had fallen asleep before him and she was still sleeping as he woke to the sounds of his phone going off alerting him to get up. He had forgot to switch it over to the second alarm last night. He turned off the phone and looked down at Aelita who shifted a bit upon him.

Alex just lay there on the makeshift bed he had created out of a pair of hammocks. His thoughts were still replaying the short talk he had with Samuel, the talk afterward with Aelita, but they were mostly trying to predict how his next talk with Samuel would go. He laid there for about two hours just thinking before Aelita had finally begun to stir. She smiled seeing his face there to greet her.

As they got up, Alex's leg was still acting up. Perhaps Aelita was right and it was twisted. If wasn't any better by the time the sun had set, he would head off to the Pokemon center to have it checked out. Breakfast was simple, just a few berries and a glass of milk, neither one of them were very hungry knowing what was coming up later that day. The day was mostly quite. Other then an E-mail from Johnson indicating that some of the gems Aelita had picked had sold, there wasn't much else going on. As it came closer to four in the afternoon, they knew that they would have to leave soon having put it off long enough.

--

With Alex's leg still sore and somewhat non-responsive from yesterday's events, Alex called Justin for a ride. Justin arrived soon enough and transported them to Aelita's.

Aelita's house wasn't a mansion, but it was still large. It was an old two-story house with four bedrooms, an attic, and three bathrooms. Nothing too fancy, but it was still an expensive home. Painted green with black shingles, the house partially blended into the forest that was behind it. A large ford Truck sat in the driveway. Alex could see Samuel threw one of the windows and it looked like he was doing just as he said he would. Justin saw him cleaning the rifle as well and decided to stay just in case.

Alex approached the front door on his crutches with Aelita at his side. Aelita opened the door. The door led into the main hall of the house. A staircase on one side, with three doors leading off of it. To their right was the living room. It had an oak floor and two large couches filled the center of the room. A large TV lined one wall with a bookcase on either side that were mostly filled with photos of Aelita's family and books. A fireplace took up most of the far wall, the mantle above it had several picture of Aelita's mother on it. Many of were the young Absol Samuel had fallen in love with long ago. Unlike most, Erika had a light silver tint to her fur, a very odd case, but that was what made her so beautiful to Samuel.

At the end of the hall was the kitchen. It's usual black and white chess pattern tiles lined the floor with granite counters visible. Other then a few appliances, Alex couldn't see much more of the kitchen at this point. Looking up the staircase, Alex made out the upper hallway and the few doors that were there.

Finally, the group's gaze settled on the other side of the doorway opposite the living room. The room was large with a redwood table and matching chairs around it. An old grandfather clock occupied a small section of the wall. Samuel had his rifle lying down on the table, each part laid out nicely on his right and left sides. The handgrip was clearly locked up showing he had no intentions of using it…yet. He did however had two rifle shells in front of him. He motioned for them to gather around the table.

As Alex took a seat, Samuel placed one of the two bullets in front of him. Alex could already see his name etched into the shell and also saw that the shell in front of him was a blank. "That is your reminder." Samuel began holding up the second shell which also had his named etched into it. "So, the two of you are mates?"

Alex nodded his head. Aelita was a bit shocked herself. Every time before she had brought a friend over before, her father simple left the rifle to hang above the door with a shell hanging under it. This was the first time he had actually etched someone's name into the shell.

"I'm going to tell you something that Erika's father once told me." He informed them. "I know I can't control my daughter's life. I can however see to it that she will be cared for." He gazed was locked onto Alex. "Unlike my father-in-law, I don't see any problems with the two of you becoming mates. I think you two might have rushed it a bit while I was gone, but I'm going with hold my judgement. I have no doubt that the two of you have even mated a few times by now… and I'm fine with that." Aelita did turn a slight shade of red about hearing her father talk about such things. "Be warned however that if you abuse my daughter, this shell will find you." Samuel held the live rifle shell in his hand for Alex to see. "If my daughter gives birth to your pup, then you support the child whether you still love my daughter or not. If you don't support your child, this bullet will find you. I don't care if it doesn't work out between the two of you and you go your separate ways, but I think the two of you could make a good couple."

Alex kept his eyes on the bullet I Samuel's hand.

"Now that I've warned about what will happen should you try to abuse or abandon my daughter, we can move on to the next topic at hand. Alex." Samuel put the rifle shell in his hand back on the table.

"Yes?" Alex responded now too sure about what about the next topic.

"Are you able to support my daughter right now, or are the two of you hoping that William and myself will help out?" Samuel returned to cleaning his rifle currently working the barrel.

"I can support myself easily, I've done it for three years now and have collected a fair sum of money in my account." Alex explained, his eyes watching Samuel hands taking extreme care to remove any possible dust from the barrel. "I have more then enough to support the two of us for a year at least at this moment."

"Good. And I hope you can provide a proper house. I've seen your place, and I'm not sure four rooms will be big enough for a family." Samuel commented as he reassembled his rifle.

"I've already added a closet and the dining room since you were last there." Alex informed him to which he nodded his head as he put the rifle back into gun safe located in a nearby closet.

"I assume that there will be more additions later." He asked to which Alex quickly replied with a yes. "Alright, then I have one last topic to discuss before I'll be satisfied." He smirked. Alex feared the worse, but when Aelita saw that smirk on her father's face, she got curious. What was her father planning? Justin just sat there at the far end of the table glad that his presence wasn't needed.

"Aelita, this last question is for you." Samuel lost the smirk he had and did his best to keep a straight face. Aelita was the only one who could see through it though.

"Yes?" She asked slightly curious with a bit of worry in her voice.

"I just want a yes or no answer, nothing specific." Samuel began.

"And what is the question?" Aelita asked.

A short silence filled the room before Samuel spoke still just barely able to keep his straight face, which only Aelita could see past.

"If I let Alex spend the night here so that he can help you can pack up your things and we can talk for a while," Samuel began before pausing for a second. "Am I going to need ear plugs to drown out any noise tonight?"

Alex stared dumbstruck at the question while Justin had a look of confusion of his face trying to figure out how the topic had changed to this. Aelita came up and tried to smack the back of her father's head with a shocked look on her face for even suggesting such a thing. "How could you even suggest such a thing." She half shouted caught between embarrassment that her father had even asked, confusion as she wasn't even able to tell how this topic came up, and finally happiness knowing for a fact that her father without a doubt a approved of her choice in a mate. There were also traces of anger and surprise in her voice as well.

"I uh… think I…might have missed something." Alex finally managed to say something.

"I have no argument to break the two of you up, just remember what I told you." Samuel got and walked into the kitchen to start on supper.

"I take it I'm no longer needed. I'll see ya later and good luck." Justin got up and walked to the front door.

"Aelita, I know you're going to move in with Alex, go ahead and start packing your things." Samuel said as she started to warm up the oven.

"I wasn't expecting anything like this." Alex said as he got up. His leg was doing better, but it still hurt to put weight on it. Aelita helped Alex up the stairs to her room so that she could start packing with his help. Aelita opened the door to her room. It wasn't as big as Alex's room, only about half the size. Still considering how big Alex's room was, Aelita's room was still bigger then most bedrooms in standard houses.

The walls of the room were a light velvet in color. Aelita had her bed in one corner of the room with a window over the headboard and just past the bottom of the bed. The bed itself was pretty basic, a plain white in color. There were two blankets, one thin one which was more of sheet, but the other one was more of a heavy quilt. Both had a light floral design around the edges with a large velvet rose in the center. The pillows also had velvet rose pillowcases.

Beside the bed was a small nightstand that held her alarm clock and a lamp. Her dresser was of basic design, nothing too fancy about it other then the rose shaped handles on it. There was a full size mirror beside her closet. Aside from a few pieces of clothing, Aelita's room was mostly clean.

The only detail that stuck out was the suitcase on her bed. It seemed like Samuel was planning on Aelita moving out and was willing to let her go to Alex since he found out last night.

Alex helped Aelita to begin packing. She only took the essentials at this point, a few additional undergarments, some extra tops and pants, a second set of pajamas, and a few shampoos she used to keep her fur extra nice and clean. It took her a few hours to decide what she was going to take however. Just as Alex finished putting the shampoos into a pocket, Samuel shouted their names. "Aelita, Alex. Get down here."

"Oh, supper must be ready." Aelita looked at Alex.

"We mustn't keep him waiting then." Alex's leg was back to normal, well normal for him anyway. It still hurt a bit, but he could walk on it with out anything more then minor discomfort.

Samuel had prepared a large meal. He had prepared lasagna as the main dish with salad and bread sticks as sides. The table had been set for three with Alex and Aelita's plates on one side and his own on the other side. "So, Alex, how have you been?" Samuel asked as though his talk with Alex from earlier had never happened.

"Except for some minor discomfort in my leg, I'm doing fine." Alex replied before taking a bite of the lasagna. Alex knew Samuel could cook, but he didn't expect a five star dish. The meal tasted as though it was from one of the finest restaurants around, just a perfect mix of spices, meat, cheese, sauce, and pasta. "This is a wonderful dish." Alex complemented

"My father taught me how to cook." Samuel replied.

"He did a good job." Alex decided that since Samuel was fine with his presence, he wouldn't have to be so tense and worry about what he was going to say as much. He relaxed some seeing that Samuel appeared to accept him.

"I've done some last minute thinking since our talk." Samuel said as he used one of his claws to slice open one of the bread sticks. "Aelita, I want you over here for dinner with Alex at least twice a week for dinner when possible."

"We can do that." Aelita nodded her head.

"I'm happy to hear this." Samuel looked at the two of them. Both of them seemed happy to be with each other. "I'm also glad that you told me the news by phone. I fear it may not have turned out so great if you had told me that you were mates in person. I spent most of the night unable to sleep fearing that my daughter had made a grave mistake."

"Mistake?" Aelita asked. "Alex loves me. He's saved me three times. He cares for me." Aelita blurted out.

"Take it easy. It took me a while, but I realized that there was always a connection between the two of you." Samuel explained.

--

The three of them talked about a few things while they had supper. Alex and Aelita's fear of her father had passed by the time supper was done, but his words still remained in their minds. Night came along and Aelita went back upstairs to finish packing. Samuel started work on cleaning up the kitchen and requested Alex to help him.

"Alex, I have to say that we are both in for some changes." Samuel began cleaning by putting all of the excess food away into containers while Alex started filling the sinks.

"I know this." Alex replied.

"The biggest change I'll have to go threw is not seeing my daughter as often." Samuel gathered the pan used to the lasagna and everything else needed to make the meal as Alex stopped filling the sinks. "I'll have to get used to an empty house again." Samuel looked around.

Samuel continued to talk for a while Alex threw in a comment here and there. Sure he had known Samuel for about as long as he had known Aelita, but he never really got to know him. Alex still listened though.

Samuel knew how Alex was about opening up to others and didn't expect too much at first. It took him about a month just to warm up to Aelita and began to talk freely around her. He had never taken the chance to get to learn much more about him other then the things Aelita had told him.

By the time Alex and Samuel had finished the kitchen, Aelita had the last of her things all packed up that she was taking with her for now. Alex only had one dresser and the bottom drawer was more for storage rather then clothing.

Once again, the three of them sat down to talk about various things. Alex was a bit more open with Aelita there, but not entirely. As the clock struck ten, Samuel retreated to one of the bedrooms that had been turned into a small study of sorts leaving Alex and Aelita to whatever they choose to do. Aelita suggested a movie and Alex saw nothing wrong with that.

"Alright, I don't watch too many movies, but what do we have to pick from?" Alex asked as Aelita headed over to the case where the discs were stored.

"My dad likes old action flicks, but I like a good horror movie now and then." Aelita told Alex.

"I wouldn't have guessed you were into scares." Alex thought about for a second. Aelita was kind and gentle. She knew how to defend herself, she could was even pretty good with first aid, but Alex just couldn't see how she was into horror. There were definitely a few things left to learn about her.

"How does the movie A Day of Darkness sound?" Aelita asked.

"Ya know me, I've never heard of it." Alex replied taking a look at the cover. The title was in red letters on top of an eclipsed sun. Below the sun was a large double edged axe which sort of had the look of a cross to it and standing in front of it was a Anthro Houndoom wearing a large cape. "What's it about?"

"It an older vampire movie. The basics of the movie are that a scientist who wants to rule the world wakes up an old vampire that decides to take over for himself. A second vampire has to take him down." Aelita explained.

The movie started and Aelita curled up with Alex after he had taken a seat on the edge of the couch. Aelita skipped the commercials at the beginning and went straight to the movie

The movie started with a lone figure running on the edge of a forest near a mountain range growing slightly bigger in the background. The man ran from something, the camera moving quickly behind him changing angles as the Houndoom ran. Occasionally, it would show an image of the forest and the shadow that ran threw it. The whole time the Houndoom was running, names of actors would appear in blood red letters across the screen before they faded away. Finally, the title, A Day of Darkness, appeared on screen as the man stopped running for just a second.

"My name is Talon Gathe and I am a Vampire, a demon of the night. I used be like everyone else, until 'it' attacked me." A deep male voice sounded from the movie.

The camera darted upward turning to face the woods as a shadow sprung out of the woods and stuck the Houndoom down. After tackling down the Houndoom, the shadow bit down on the Houndoom's neck before darting back into the forest. The camera quickly circled the area and by the time it had gone full circle, the shadow was gone. The camera zoomed back toward the Houndoom who was lying there unconscious, eyes closed. It's eyes suddenly opened and they flashed red before the screen faded out. The next picture was of a large city. The camera started up very high so that the whole city could be seen, then it quickly zoomed it.

--

Except for the opening scene, the movie started out slow. It took about twenty minutes for the blood to really start flying. The city was tossed into darkness as new vampires and mutant monsters began to run wild in the city. Aelita clung to Alex at times during the most gruesome points in the movie. As for Alex, he wasn't scared, just a bit disgusted at a few things. He was used to seeing blood, but the sheer amount that was, at times constantly flowing through the air was a bit much.

It was a little past midnight when the movie ended. Alex couldn't see how, but Aelita was already partially asleep. She didn't cry out in terror once during the movie, just clung to Alex a few times. The two of them headed up the stairs to Aelita's room. Her bed was big enough for the two of them. Alex saw nothing wrong with the floral pattern and agreed to sleep with Aelita. She changed into her pajamas while Alex striped himself of his shirt and socks. They lay down together and quickly drifted off to sleep in each other's arms.

xXx

Alex and Aelita awoke to Samuel calling out their names. Sunlight filtered in throw the two windows of the room. "Breakfast." Samuel shouted.

They got up slowly. Alex stretched some while Aelita got properly dressed. Once they were ready they headed downstairs where Samuel had just finished putting breakfast on the table. There was a bowl of scrambled eggs, a small plate of bacon, and another small plate of toast. The three of them ate quietly.

After breakfast, the phone rang.

"Hello, Kilter residence. Samuel Kilter speaking." Samuel picked up the phone. "Yes… I understand…Very well…Would you rather meet here or at the office?… I'll be waiting." Samuel hung up the phone. "Aelita, go upstairs and grab your suitcase. I'm afraid I'll have to take the two of you back to Alex's house. My boss has sent a very…let's just say strict and over demanding client over here."

"I understand." Alex said as he grabbed the crutches that he had brought over with him yesterday while Aelita went up stairs to grab her suitcase.

Aelita came down a minute later as her father pulled out the keys to his truck.

It was a short ride back to Alex's house. Aelita grabbed her suitcase and once clear of the truck, Samuel headed back to his house. Alex headed in first with Aelita right behind him.

"So, I think yesterday went better then we had originally thought." Aelita walked to the bedroom behind Alex. Alex opened the dresser and began pulling out the clothes he in the top drawer. The dresser had four rows of drawers. The second row from the top was split into three separate drawers though. He put the clothes he had taken out back in the second drawer from the bottom.

"I agree." Aelita set her suitcase down.

Alex then cleared the left-hand drawer from the second row and put the clothes he had in it in the middle drawer of the same row.

"You can use these two drawers for the time being. I'll have to remember to get a bigger dresser later on." Alex knocked on the two now empty drawers.

Aelita opened up her suitcase and put her undergarments and pajamas in the empty drawer of the second row. She filled the top drawer with everything else she had. She pulled out a small pile of shirts, the top one on the pile had an image of rose circled around a pillar.

A sudden idea struck Alex. "Hey Aelita, I've just got a crazy idea that you might like." Alex told her as he headed back to the living room leaving a puzzled Aelita behind.

When Aelita had finished emptying her suitcase, she headed for the living room to find Alex looking throw one of his architecture books. He had a slight grin of his face and Aelita knew that he was drawing something out in his head. "What are you planning now?" She asked.

"What you say if we moved this summer, or possibly sooner?" Alex asked.

"Move?! Are you mad, my dad would throw a fit if we moved mid school year." She shouted. "Not only that, but where would we move?"

"Not too far, just up to the old bathhouse." Alex's grin grew bigger as his found a page in the book that seemed to suit his needs.

"You mean that one you took me to when we first became mates?" She was confused now. How would they even pull that off?

"I've been thinking about restoring that old place since I first found it. Haven't thought about it much until now because I couldn't figure how to restore the place properly." Alex informed her. "I think I just figured it out though."

"How?" She moved closer to see what Alex was looking at in his book. Alex turned the book so that Aelita could look at it. The page on the left side was filled with various images of plants being woven in and out of walls. On the right page was a basic description of the technique used.

"I'll make a bet that over half of that building is still in great shape. With the plants growing in and out of it like they were, it'll probably be standing for several more years. All we would really need to do is clean the place up, install proper windows, and possibly do some work on the walls here and there." Alex explained. "But nature has done most of the work for us. We just need to clean up the excess."

"That could work?" Aelita knew that Alex had spent a few years designing houses and building them. He even went so far as to pay about four hundred dollars on various books on construction and home design.

"It'll take some planning, but we wouldn't move far. We'd have our own hot spring and I can add a basement level which would be similar to this place." Alex told her. "And the best part is that you would be able to grow your own Velvet Roses."

"Yea, your right. But how could we restore the place alone? I'm not skill with construction like you are and I don't think you'd be able to do most of the work by yourself." Aelita questioned.

"Johnson already agreed to help me every time I find a new place to live. I'm sure he, well for that matter, the whole team would be willing help. The biggest problem would be finding an alternate route to the bathhouse so that we can move our things up here." Alex pulled out his phone and brought up a satellite image of the mountain. "So, Aelita, since this will be a house for both of us, what do I have to include?" Alex asked. He pulled out a notebook and flipped to the last page of it.

"Huh, what do you mean by include?" Aelita asked.

"I know that you'll just have to have a garden, but is there anything else that you're going to want?" Alex asked.

The next few hours were spent going over possible ideas for their new house. They exchanged ideas about gardens, rooms, and they even had a few ideas about the hot springs.

--

Alex had begun to cook lunch, frying up some ham for hot ham and cheese sandwiches when a blast similar to bomb sounded. It was a ways off, but still very loud. Alex charged toward the living room. Looking out the window, Alex was both impressed and shocked by the sight before him. Several bolts of lighting flew forth from the city over where the high school was. A large pillar of smoke rose up as well. Alex's phone began to ring and Alex quickly answered, but he did not leave the window.

"Hello?" Alex asked as the bolts of lighting came to a stop.

"Alex, its Justin. Where are you?" Justin demanded sounding as though he was out of breath. The sounds of falling objects could be heard in the background.

"At my house, where are you at?" Alex replied a slight bit of fear in his voice.

"I'm outside the high school and I'm perfectly fine. I knew you sometimes spent the weekend reading at the library." Justin sounded relieved to hear the Alex was not at the school.

"What happened? I could bolts of lighting rising up out of the city form my place." Alex asked.

"The school was having some electrical problems." Justin began. "They called in a crew who had some feral Magnezone to fix the faulty wiring they found. From what I've overheard so far, two of the five Magnezone brought in got into a fight about something and starting attacking each other. Soon enough, all five of them throwing attacks at each other until they used Self-Destruct trying to end the fight."

"All five Magnezone used Self-Destruct?" Alex asked. That explained a lot including the loud boom, the stray bolts of lighting, and even the sounds of falling debris in the background, but it did seem like overkill.

"I don't think there will be school for the next few days. It will take an Imperial Crafters construction team at least four days to rebuild the school." Justin explained. "I was just checking to see if you in the school. I'm gonna let ya go since I know your safe. I'll let you know what happened later." Justin hung up before Alex could ask any more questions?

"What happened?" Aelita asked.

"Justin says that if what he overheard was correct, five Feral Magnezone used Self-Destruct at the school. We should be receiving phone call later alerting us to the fact that there won't be school all week." Alex explained. He stood there for a while before the smell of burning ham caught his nose. "Oh carp, I left the ham on the stove." Alex dashed back to the kitchen.

Most of the dish Alex had made was salvageable, but not all of it. By the time they had finished supper, the school had sent a recorded message to almost all of the student's parents. Johnson called soon after the school did since he also received a call being classified as Alex's guardian.

"Alex, are the two of you alright?" Johnson asked, his voice had some worry in it.

"We're fine, I assume you just got the call form the school." Alex replied.

"Yes, I just got the call. I'm glad to hear you weren't hurt." Johnson was quite relieved.

"Since you called, I've got a question. You remember that bathhouse I found on the mountain?" Alex asked.

"Yes, I recall that you said it would be a nice place to live if restored." Johnson had never been to the bathhouse, but Alex told him a lot about it. He also knew how to get to it as Alex had drawn him up a very detailed path on a map of the area.

"I'm thinking I may move there." Alex said.

"Alright, I guess that you'll be putting off that offer of a solo recovery." Johnson asked.

"I completely forgot about that." Alex suddenly remembered the offer he was given back at the ceremony almost three weeks ago.

--

After a long talk with Johnson, Alex hung up the phone. "Aelita, pick out some clothes. We'll be hiking up the mountain again. Since we won't be having any school this week, now would be a good time to check out the rest of that bathhouse." Alex informed her.

It was only a little after four when they left to climb up the mountain. Like before, it was an hour hike to the cave Alex had built by the lake.

"We take a break here." Alex said as he moved under the willow tree that hid the cave. He was about to turn inside when a stream of water hit him in the face. "What gives?" Alex stood there in confusion wiping some of the water off of his face. There in the cave was Julian. She had grown since Alex and Aelita had last seen her. When she had been born, she was barely a foot tall, but now she was about twice that height. There behind Julian was her mother, Aurora.

Aurora had been sleeping when Alex's words had woken her. She quickly woke upon seeing a face in the cave entrance. She was just as quick to take a defensive stance until she realized who was there. Julian ducked behind her mother as she calmed down.

"I thought you would have been long gone by now." Alex said as he pulled out a towel to dry off his face.

"Alex, what happened?" Aelita rushed to the cave entrance after seeing the stream of water. She quickly understood what had happened when she saw Julian and Aurora.

"I am sorry for my daughter's behavior. There have been a few Houndoom who like to tease her around here lately." Aurora bowed her head, the dark purple hair flowed freely behind her head. "As for my reasons for not leaving, Julian is still unable to keep up with me as I run and she is now too big for me to carry her."

"That's fine." Alex said as he put the towel away. "We were on our way to the bathhouse a short way up the mountain and can leave here now if you would rather be by yourself." Alex offered.

Julian looked to her mother wondering about the two people in their cave. "I am afraid that I would like some privacy right now yes. I have suffered a fall trying to keep my daughter safe. I am fine, but I hit my head rather hard. Perhaps I shall talk with you later. It is not often that others like yourself give me these options and would freely leave upon my request." Aurora smiled and nodded her head.

"I hope it wasn't a bad fall." Aelita said.

Julian decided that she was hungry and made a small whining noise to alert her mother. "If you'll excuse me, my daughter claims to be hungry." She leaned on her side letting her daughter suckle one of many teats.

"We'll be on our way then. Like I said before, you're welcome to use this cave as long as you wish." Alex said as he got out of the cave. "I hope you will be feeling better soon. I must however warn you that I have invited some friends this way. I haven't told them about you, but they may stumble upon you. I'm only expecting one to come tomorrow, a Shiny Anthro Umbreon by the name of William Johnson Yelstien." Alex informed her.

"I would prefer if he didn't come to know of me." Aurora said as her daughter continued to suckle.

"He may want to look at you and ask you some questions if he finds you, but he would do nothing to hurt you. All I ask is that you don't just attack him without cause. I'm not sure who would hurt who worse and personally, I'd rather not find out." Alex said. "He will defend himself if he has to, but he won't attack you."

"I hope you feel better soon, Aurora." Aelita said as she moved out of the small cave.

--

Seeing that Aurora and her pup were still occupying his cave, Alex and Aelita headed further up the mountain towards the bathhouse. Like before, two large stone Dragonite statues greeted them.

The two of them slowly made their way into the bathhouse on the lookout for Feral Pokemon as they moved. At last they came to the center room of the bathhouse. It had been only a little over three weeks since they were last here, but a few things seemed to have been moved. One of the blazers in the had been knocked over. Part of berry bush was trapped under it leading Alex to believe that a Feral Pokemon had knocked it over. That meant that they would have to keep their eyes open should the one responsible for knocking over the blazer return.

Alex had packed a full set of camping gear rather then just the basics and he went to work clearing out a patch of vines. With Aelita's help, the two of them managed to clear up a good portion of the floor in the room. Alex however had the vines they cleared away stacked up against one wall saying that he had plans for them later. The two of them also cleared out the blazers in the room and gathered up the torches. They both knew that they had some work to do before the sun had sun. They were lucky and found a storeroom Alex had somehow missed coming across all the times he was there before. It was filled with unused torches and oil for the blazers.

After a good four hours of work collecting torches, tearing down the old curtains, and clearing vines, Alex and Aelita took a well deserved break. The work they had done certainly paid off though. Where the room was once dominated by roots, vines, and plants in general, it was now a half way cleared. The stone floor still held a few old painting upon it. No doubt the vines had kept them protected from the elements and other things which could damage them.

"I don't think I've ever worked so hard in such a short period of time before." Aelita told Alex. She was out of breath and leaning against the wall just to stand up completely.

"Come on, we both deserve a nice soak in the hot spring after all that work." Alex said. He pulled out their swimsuits and a few towels. He also gathered a handful of torches and a lighter he had. "There is one last thing I need to do before I can join you though." Alex informed her. "I need to set up a few of these torches for tonight so that we have some light once the sun sets."

Alex handed Aelita her two piece swimsuit and she agreed to meet him there. Alex went about placing torches in the hallways that connected the hot spring to the main hall. He lit every third one thinking that there was a good chance that the two of them could end up staying in the hot spring even after the sun had set. The sun was already sinking to meet the horizon.

Alex entered the private hut that contained the hot spring to find Aelita there in the water waiting for him. Alex place four torches in slots on the wall and lit them before changing into his swimsuit. Once in his swimsuit, he checked the weather not wanting a repeat incident like what happened the last time that they were here.

As Alex climbed in to join Aelita, the warm waters over took his body. He sat down, his muscles relaxed to match Aelita's, and she leaned up against happy to spend this time with him. The two of them sat in peace with the water gently warming their bodies and soothing their minds.

--

Day became night as the sun set. Alex and Aelita got out of the hot spring, dried off, and then headed back to the center of the bathhouse. The torches Alex had lit were still burning bright and easily guided them on their way. Alex picked up the last torch they passed as they walked into the center of the bathhouse. He only left a pair of torches lit here and they now barely lit the room. Alex used the torch in his had to light a blazer and the room was quickly illuminated by its large fire. After a few minutes of starting a small wood fire by their tent, Alex started dinner.

Knowing that they were going to be there for a few days, Alex had packed a few foods, but not many. The berries in the area would provide more then enough of meal, but he still brought some extra food just to add some variety to their diet. Alex heated up two cans of soup he had brought. Their meal was a quite one. Alex had set his phone to start beeping rather loudly should anything more then a light shower show up on the weather scans.

After supper, they changed into their nightclothes. Aelita put on a pair of her floral pajamas while Alex put on a very light pair of shorts and an equally light T-shirt, both red in color. Alex began to grab a large number of the vines he had taken care not to destroy, but simply separate into large ten to twelve foot lengths.

"What are you doing?" Aelita asked as Alex began to line the vines up on the ground along one of the walls, which was still lined with vines.

"Making a decent cushion to lay the sleeping bag on. This stone floor isn't the most comfortable place to sleep." Alex answered.

"A bed would be nice, I would like that better then sleeping on the stone floor." She commented. After about ten minutes, he had the vines lined up in three layers, alternating directions with each layer. He laid the sleeping bag down on top of the vines before he slowly got onto it. Alex could feel the soft vines beneath his hands and feet as he crawled on the sleeping bag. After a quick check around the edges, he was satisfied with his work confidant that the vines would collapse or shift under their weight. Motioning for Aelita to come join him, he sat back against the wall.

Aelita made her way over and joined him. From where they sat, Aelita had a nice view of the moon from one the upper windows. Its sliver light seemed brighter then most other nights.

Alex leaned back with Aelita laying on top of him somewhat. Alex looked down some and from where she was laying and how he was sitting behind her, he had perfect view into her pajama shirt and what lay beneath. He quickly looked away, but couldn't stop thinking about how beautiful Aelita looked in the light of the fire. He saw the shadows shift and change as the fire burned. Alex lightly took hold of her shoulders and began to rub them.

Aelita began to feel something poke lightly at her back. She quickly realized what it was lightly nudging her back.

"Alex." Aelita looked up at him.

"Yes, what is it?" Alex looked down and saw a slight look in her eye.

"If you want to mate with me, all you have to do ask politely." She rolled over letting Alex's slowly growing member rise up some more.

"I can't help it. You looked better then ever by the light of the fire." Alex told her.

"Thank you." Aelita got up some and kissed Alex lightly while one of her hands began to rub his slowly growing member just as he had rubbed her shoulders. "Now then, would you like to mate with me?" She asked with a slightly teasing tone tilting her head some.

"Even if I wanted to say no, I just couldn't." Alex brought her in for another kiss. Aelita gripped the sides of the Alex's shirt and pulled up bringing it over his head. Once his shirt had been removed, Alex went to work on hers.

With their shirts gone, Alex pulled her in for another kiss. One hand went for the tied used to keep her pajama bottoms up while his other hand was placed between her breasts. His eyes began to glow as he once again expanded his spirit energy into her stimulating multiple muscles. She moaned in pleasure under his gently touch.

A minute later, both of them were completely stripped down. Aelita brought Alex down onto the bed and slowly positioned herself on top of his stomach.

They kissed again as Aelita raised herself up and positioned her sex over his. She lowered herself taking in his rod bit by bit. Once she had taken all four inches of him in, she gently raised herself back up and lowered herself down. They quickly gained a steady rhythm as they went. Alex would thrust his hips up lightly to meet Aelita as she came down.

Both of them were growing closer to release the longer they went on. Aelita was once again the first to climax her walls clamped down. They began to work on milking Alex for the seed he had. It didn't take much for Alex to give in. He hilted her and shot the first spray of his seed deep into her quickly firing a second shot, and third. As their climaxes came to an end, Aelita leaned forward onto Alex as they slowly began to recover. Alex's member was starting to shrink within her and she scooted forward and moved into a sitting position on his stomach. After a minute, she lightly gripped his member behind and starting working to get him hard again for round two.

"Alex, can we try something new?" she asked. She remembered how kind he was and always asked before trying something new, so she thought it was only polite to ask in return. "I'm sure we'll both like it." She hand one arm behind her lightly squeezing his rod every so often as she moved her hand up and down to get him hard again.

"I'll give it a try depending on what it is." He told her. Aelita adjusted her position so that she was now lying back on the bed. She pulled Alex up as she laid back. Alex got on his knees over her. He was once again completely hard and ready for another round. She once again placed her hand on his rod and pulled him closer. He thought that she was pulling him toward her sex, but she pulled him a bit lower then he had though.

"I want to try anal sex." She said as she pulled his rod down so that it was resting by her anus.

"Are you sure?" Alex asked. Sure, he had fingered her ass before a few times, but it was always tight and he wasn't sure if their combined juices still left on his rod would be enough to allow him to slide into her.

"I kind of liked the feel of your fingers in my ass." Aelita told him. "I want to know if having your dick there will be just as good."

"Alright. Just tell me if you don't like it and I'll pull out." Alex told her. He gently pushed forward. His rod met a slight amount of resistance before he felt her hole start to expand to allow him entry. Alex kept his eyes on her face looking for any sign of discomfort. He saw that she had tensed up some, but she had wrapped her legs around him to encourage him to go on. After a few seconds, he felt the head of rod slip into Aelita. She pulled back on him slightly with her legs urging him to continue. She felt a little bit of pain since it was her first with anything larger then a pair of fingers in her ass, but she also felt some pleasure.

Alex managed to get his entire length in her and she held him there. "Are you okay?" Alex asked.

"Just give me a minute to adjust to this." She said. What little pain there was passed away soon enough. "Go slow at first okay."

"I will." Alex assured her. He slowly backed out until only his head was left in. Just as slowly as he had pulled out, he pushed back in. Alex could feel the difference easily between Aelita's pussy and her ass. Her ass was much tighter and he liked it, but it was also harder for him to move in her. He could feel her anus clench down now and then as he moved.

By the third time he had done this, Aelita was used to the feel of him inside her ass. She began to move her hips in sync with his movements and he got the idea. He was careful as he began to move faster. When Aelita had started to moan in pleasure and purr, he knew that was she was enjoying it. He had moved up to a fair pace, not as fast as he was with her in her pussy, but both of them were still feeling the pleasure behind the selected action.

Alex was the first to lose it for once. He hilted himself in her ass and began to fire his seed into her. This was indeed a first for her, she could feel the hot liquid inside her. By the time Alex had let loose a fourth shot into her ass, she reached her peak. A fresh gush of her juices poured forth from her sex and down between her legs onto Alex. They gathered on the edge of the sleeping bag. Alex was going to have to have it washed later, but he was too busy to be concerned about that right now. He pulled his softening member out of Aelita and laid down on top of her. He rolled over with her so that she was now on top of him. Her fur resting against his skin felt nice. After their previous activities, both of them were tired. Aelita covered them with part of the sleeping bag as they went to sleep. The torches and blazer still burned as they went sleep. Their light would hopefully keep away any unwelcome guests.


	8. Chapter 8

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

= = = = = = This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

Chapter 8

The night passed without incident, but by the time the sun had started to rise, something had been attracted to the bathhouse. Aelita was sleeping quietly. She rested upon Alex sleeping contently on his chest after their activities last night smiling as she enjoyed her dreams. She had shifted just enough over the night so that her right foot had been uncovered.

A small figure moved into the main chamber from one of the side passages, the little canine like pokemon very curious about the place as it wandered around. It was still dark enough that it remained well hidden for now, but the small movements of Aelita shaking a fly off of her foot was enough to peak its curiosity.

The small creature moved forward to inspect the source of its interest. Just as it reached the sleeping bag though, a small beeping caused it to jump back. Alex had completely forgotten to turn off his alarm that night before, but being buried under their bags right now, it was hardly loud enough to wake them, although it did seem to surprise their little friend. Off in one of the side halls, a soft voice was calling out. "Mist? Mist, where are you?"

The young suicune heard her its mother, but she ignored it, too interested in this strange sound she kept hearing and moved over to inspect the back packs nudging them with her nose and paws to try and find this noisemaker.

Aurora walked up to the main chamber, could see a pair of sleeping bodies and quickly froze for a few. Confirming that they were still very much asleep, she walked in a few paces and looked around, but Mist was hidden on the other side of their tent and went unnoticed as Aurora moved back out of the room and started searching the hallways again.

It took Mist a few, but at last, she finally managed to topple the set of backpacks, only to hear the noise stop. She started to try and go through the bags hoping to find the sound again, but all she seceded in doing was making a large mess of their things. She did however find a tasty treat, finding a small tin of peanut brittle, which she happily helped herself to.

Alex stirred a bit though as Mist tried to find more of her tasty treat when her tin was empty, but his movement peaked her interest again as she walked back over to the bed he had made for himself and Aelita. Mist saw Aelita's foot move again from a bothersome fly and leaned down to sniff the paw she had found.

The fly quickly flew off and Aelita's foot quit moving as she snuggled closer to Alex. Mist now interested in this paw lightly tapped it with her own paw causing Aelita to move her own foot again thinking that the fly was back. Mist giggled a bit and tapped her foot again, this time getting a bigger reaction out of Aelita, but she still didn't wake. Outside the room, Aurora had worked her way around the main chamber and looked back in this time seeing Mist.

"Mist no." She said firmly trying to keep her voice down. "Do not play with them." She warned walking in. Mist turned to see her mother and knew she was in trouble whining a bit as she decied to dive under the covers with Alex and Aelita. This woke them both quickly enough and while Alex was a bit confused, Aelita knew that there was something in the tent with them as she screamed out when she felt something trying to crawl over her ass.

Aurora quickly charged forward, her head quickly diving under the blanket to get Mist while Mist cried out to get away from her agitated mother knowing that she had messed up. This only caused Aelita to get up quickly and push Mist off of her as Alex was pushed around a bit himself. He still had no idea what was going on as he finally managed to get off the bed, but landed in the pile of spare vines, getting tangled up in the mess.

Aurora had to dig deeper into the sleeping bag to get to Mist as Aelita ran behind the tent covering what her fur didn't as she tried to figure out what had tried to attack them in their sleep.

"What's happening?" A voice called out from another hallway, the shiny umbreon called out. "Aelita?" Johnson was caught completely off guard by a naked Aelita trying to cover her front, but it was obvious of last's nights activities and he quickly turned away. She screamed out, very red this time, as she quickly grabbed a towel to cover herself as Alex finally got out of the vines and was ready to defend himself. He quickly grabbed the sleeping bag off of the two bodies still under it and stared at Aurora pinning her daughter down and keep her from getting away.

Aurora, just like Alex, quickly turned up and looked at him ready to fight, only sigh in relief at who it was. "Aurora?" Alex stated rather dumbstruck.

"Alex, I'm sorry." Aurora said just as Mist slipped from her mother's grasp and ran to hide behind Alex. "Mist, get back here, you cant' run off like that."

Alex quickly kneeled down and lightly grabbed Mist, carefully not to hurt her, but just hold her in place for her mother to come get here. "I'm terribly sorry, I came up here to relax in the hot spring, but Mist wandered off on me." Aurora apologized as she walked up and carefully took her daughter back around the scruff of her neck. Mist whined a bit, having been caught, but didn't move to get away as her mother carried her over to the edge of the room and set her down, but kept a paw on her back. "I'm sorry once again for disturbing you." She said as she picked her daughter up again, leaving a very confused Alex, a very embarrassed Aelita, and a dumbstruck and speechless Johnson behind.

Alex turned to find Aelita, but found Johnson standing there in one of the hallways shaking his head and making small motions with his hands trying to figure out what the heck he just walked into. "Johnson?"

"Alex, what just happened?" Johnson asked hearing his name being called, then noticed that Alex was just as naked as Aelita. "And put some clothes on." He quickly walked back out into the hall rubbing his head. Aelita blushed some more, quickly grabbing a spare set of clothing, and a new towel wrapping herself up in it before heading to a small spring to get washed up while Alex got dressed. He quickly gathered their things and put them in the tent before walking with Johnson to the court yard. "Alex, what did I just walk into?" He asked as he took a seat on a fold up chair he brought with him.

"I don't know. I went to bed with Aelita last night and everything was nice and calm, then I wake up to hear her screaming with something in the sleeping back with us." Alex said as he leaned up against the wall.

"Tell me though, was I seeing things were was that a suicune and her pup?" Johnson asked him next.

"Yes, that was Aurora and her pup." Alex said slowly. "She has kindly asked us to keep her presence a secret and we have done just that. I would request that you do the same and don't go looking for her, not after what just happened."

Johnson nodded, he understood the matter well enough. "Is there anything else I need to know about though before I walk into something else." He asked. Alex shook his head.

Aelita walked in a few minutes later and Alex quickly walked over to her. "Are you okay?" He asked worried for her.

She nodded, but still walked with a bit of limp. "I think we should clean up a bit before heading to bed more often." She said very quietly rubbing her backside a bit, it was sore from him having slept in her all night. Alex turned a bit red, but nodded.

"Sorry." He said just as softly but still got a small kiss from Aelita.

"It still felt nice…" She said before walking over and shaking Johnson's hand. "I'm sorry for what you saw earlier." She said blushing a bit still embarrassed to be standing in front of him even though she was fully dressed this time.

"I'm sorry for barging in, but I was worried." He replied. "Let's just try and forget about it, we've got plenty of work to do and we don't need things like that getting in the way." He turned to Alex now. "You said you had some ideas for restoring this place?" He asked. "You know that you're going to have to buy the property before anything else. It's still technically part of the Suicune Fall Park."

Alex nodded. "The let me into the park on a regular basis and I'm quiet familiar with the owners. They already invited me to stay at the park as a caretaker when I get out of school, so I image I won't have too many problems with that detail. I've even brought up the topic a few times with them and they've said that they would think about it, of course they don't know about the bathhouse itself." He said glad that Johnson was so quick to change the topic and get right into the details of restoring the place.

"I hope your right that they'd be willing to talk with you about this.." Johnson replied. "I will help put in a few good words with the owners though and try to make this work since your seem so determined to make this work." He replied.

"Come on, let's go." Alex motioned for him to follow. He knew that the best way to get what had happened off that morning off his mind was to start working some. After all, that topic, given the nature of what all was involved, was something that he would feel much better talking about with Aelita and making sure that she was okay.

"Well…" Alex looked around. "The first thing that needs to be done is to put up some doors to keep the majority of unwanted guests out of this room since this is where we'll be sleeping for the most part until we can get an official bunk room going while we work here." Alex stated and Aelita was very quick to agree. Johnson understood that though and the three of them quickly started talking about ideas. Aelita decided to repack their things and get a simple breakfast started while Alex and Johnson started to take measurements and other simple things.

Work progressed well enough, Johnson had even come rather prepared. A machete and sickle proving their worth on the larger and harder bits of heavy underbrush in some areas where they didn't have to be so careful and picky about what they cut off, namely clearing up the court yard and some of the hallways. A set of heavy grade sheers proved perfect for use in those spots where they wanted to leave the vines in the walls. While all of this happened though, Johnson's ESE played another important role. He had added a little program that allowed them to not only map out the building, but name rooms and spots, even add details. It was the perfect little tool to see what certain set ups would like, such as where the best place to install the kitchen, dining room, living area, and other rooms should be set up. It even helped map out where some walls could be taken down and good places to add new walls as well.

Between the three of them, the first two days went by fast enough. By the third day though, Andrew and Bryan had both shown up as well, both just as impressed as Johnson was when he finally had a chance to look the place over and work sped up a fair deal with their added help. It sped up a bit more when Cheryl showed up on the fourth day and she was easily the mon most impressed with the bathhouse, even joking about maybe buying it and fixing it up herself.

Vines quickly began to pile up, many of them being turned into fuel for a giant bon fire that was held each night, kept in check by Aelita's blizzard attack freezing a large patch of ground out in the middle of the a large outside courtyard. Aside from the vines, a few more Velvet Roses had been found, and Aelita quickly become the person in charge of moving them to her garden. It wasn't surprising to find her even tending the place with her bits of spare time, she was more then happy enough to raise the roses, they were her favorite after all and Alex even helped her some during his breaks as well.

The bathhouse was really starting look good again by the end of the week, but still, work had hardly just began. Andrew and Bryan both agreed to stay behind and watch over the place and look around, see what kind of things would need to be shipped up to the bathhouse to help fix it up. As an added bonus, Andrew had even managed to find a good way down the mountain side one day, that for the most part, aside from a few tress that would need be cut down, could serve as a very usable vehicle worthy path up and down the mountain. Johnson even kept his word, and on his off time on the last day, went to have a good talk with the owners of the Suicune Falls park. He quickly got the okay from them about setting up some sort of arrangement with Alex next weekend when they could be shown the bathhouse themselves.

Unfortunately, the damage at the school was fixed up and ready for more wear and tear by the end of the week as well, and phone calls went out, school was back on. This news was very unwanted by Alex, but he knew that he had to move back into his place and wait for the next break to start work himself on the place.

As a last minute thought though, Alex requested Johnson to head to the local super market to refill fridge for the week. It was a quick stock up and Alex made sure that Aelita had her say in what was bought, even buying her some pineapple upside cake when she looked at the bakery section.

Alex was more then happy to buy her the cake, a sort of apology for what had happened with Aurora and Mist earlier that week. As a last minute detail though, Alex also checked his phone and found that a bed he had ordered last week was also ready for pickup and he asked Johnson to make one last detour, which he happily agreed to.

They had just made it back to Alex's cave house, but they quickly had to take a second look. The door had been broken in and Alex quickly rushed inside, his eyes already going green as he prepared to tap into his spirit energy if he needed to.

Aelita quickly rushed in, ready to use her blizzard attack, which she had gotten plenty of practice with over the week. Johnson himself rushed in as well, ready to wield his own assortment of attacks of needed as well.

The place was empty, but the living room wasn't the same way that Alex had left when they returned the bathhouse a week before. The couch had been flipped, the bookshelf knocked over, and several tools were thrown about. They looked around, but no one was there aside from themselves.

Alex quickly walked over to the bedroom, the only room with anything of real value and tried the door, it was oddly still locked.

"Alex, who could have done this?" Aelita asked a bit worried once they had checked the place and found it intruder free. Alex could only shake his head though, he had no idea as he bent down to start picking things up. They had nothing of real value on them, so he wasn't too worried about anything being stolen, but still did a mental check off of everything he could recall.

Aelita and Johnson both helped out as well clearing the place up. "I don't know Aelita, I just don't know." Alex finally said as they started to pick up the room. He didn't really think he had made any serious enemies that would attack him like this, but he still had a few ideas about who could have done it. He remained quiet about these slight possibilities though, he had no hard evidence and he wasn't the person to just throw around random names without cause.

Once the place was mostly cleaned up, Johnson went out and got a new door for them, this time with a very heavy dead bolt. This left Alex to make some rough changes to the doorframe, namely adding a spot for the dead bolt to slide into to keep the door locked.

Johnson returned soon enough with a the new door and Alex quickly worked to have it installed, even testing the door himself firing a single spirit surge attack at him and then testing it again, but with a shoulder slam the second time. Satisfied that only someone who put some real force behind the effort of breaking in, Alex also decided to look into something else at Johnson's request. Aelita didn't like the thought much, but understood the idea of getting a security camera.

Alex fixed up a quick dinner and thanked Johnson again for his help before he left. Alex let Aelita take her shower first as he did a double check of the house to make sure nothing was missing, then took his own shower. They quickly fell asleep in the new bed that Alex had finished setting up while Aelita took her shower.

The next day, school had officially restarted and it was back to the same old routine for the most part. After a quick breakfast, both of them were off to school. Just like every other day, they arrived early and were once again waiting in the library for the day to start. Aelita had began to develop his same interest in history and was growing just as curious as he was about older civilizations. The more she explored the bathhouse over last week, the more she had began to show interest in wanting to find out more about the culture who had built it and Alex happily pointed her in the right direction.

School was slow that day, but there were a few rumors going around, namely that Keith's parents had attempted to take Principal Luna to court over her decision in how to deal Keith's behavior, only to have the entire thing backfire. Luna would have attempted to allow Keith to continue his education, but under some very strict restrictions, but the judge quickly had other ideas for the situation, even applying some of Luna's own ideas for punishment into the mix. As it turned out though, Alex's name was also being thrown around the halls a bit as well. It was now common knowledge that Alex had direct ties with Johnson, but to actually have Johnson show up in Nenwill started a whole new string of rumors around that topic as well. No one could figure why he had show up for a day, then suddenly disappear, but some rumors said that Johnson had found a new set of ruins around Nenwill, while others said that he was looking for a new place to move. The rumors gave Alex more unwanted attention though, and many people had come up asking him about the details, only to get the usual cold shoulder from him.

This of course, once again slowed his day down though. First period biology seemed to take forever though, there was a substitute teacher for the day and it was obvious that he had no idea how to teach the class, and mostly just announced a free study day, allowing student to group however they pleased. This of course, led to many students fighting for a spot next to Alex to figure out the truth behind Johnson and the most of the team's trip to Nenwill.

Alex, not really needing to study himself, did try to help Aelita a bit, but with all the students around him asking them questions, it was hard. Aelita found herself helping him keep his cool through the period and really hoped that he wouldn't lose his temper the way he had when people kept asking how he had become mates with Aelita. Trying to keep his cool was a bit hard though, but thankfully, second period passed quickly enough. Like his biology class, his English class was a study period of sorts, but Mr. Jones stated that it was going to be a quiet study day and that there was a test tomorrow.

Third was quiet as well, but fourth period classes proved rather interesting. Alex once again had a class with Aelita, an advanced survival class. Ever since pokemorphs had become common, a new style of class had been set up known as survival classes. While similar to independent living classes, survival classes focused much more on a morphs natural abilities, helping to train younger mons to control their abilities, and teaching older mons how to apply these abilities to everyday life as well as how to survive using them to their fullest extent. No two classes were really the same though, as the class was split up mostly by type.

Alex was one of the more unique cases for the class though, being a human after all. In the end, it was decided that he would join a mixed fighting and dark type survival class since he didn't have too much in the way of elemental abilities aside from his 'spirit' based attacks. Aelita was also in the same class and had a spot reserved for him as usual in the back of the class as he walked in. Unlike most class rooms, survival classes were often held in padded rooms with large empty spaces on the sides. Since the use of abilities was common in this style of class, it was very much a hands on class and the schools made sure that the rooms were ready for them.

Alex took his seat as Miss Rise, a swampert called the class to attention. "Alright everyone, listen up." She called out as she started to write a few things up on the board. "I know you've had an unexpected week off, but we need to get caught back up." She quickly turned and started passing out some papers to the group. "I'm not normally one to give homework, but today, you need to review the basics again and be ready. As an advanced survival class, you all should have known that you would have a hands on final exam. Many of you already have a general idea of what you want to do when you get out of high school, and have taken this class to prepare yourselves a bit better for your career choices."

Alex took his sheet and looked it over, it list of supplies on the front, but limited supplies. Flipping it over to the back, he saw a large map of some sort of dome with what appeared to be a jungle on the inside.

"You all have a month to decide whether or not your still going to be taking this class and gather up the supplies listed on that sheet I just gave you." Miss Rise stated as she returned to the front of the class. "I told you at the beginning of the school year that the final exam for this class would be rough, and what your looking at is the first part of the final exam. On the front, you will see the list of things you may bring with you for this exam." She pointed back to the board where she had written up the list. "You may bring one sleeping bag, four changes of clothing, up to a pound of any combination of berries, and a flash light with one spare set of batteries. Everything else will provide for you and your final exam. Your job is simple, just last three days and three nights in the survival dome at the Harrison Training Center. There are several berries groves in the dome, fresh water, and lots of cover. Your task is simple. Survival if obvious, but you will also be required to prove a few things while there. You must mark down the location of at least three of the berry groves you ate from, mark down the location of all fresh water springs you find, and locate a few additional items which will be hidden through the dome." Miss Rise explained. "As an added precaution, everyone will be given a locator beckon and cameras have been placed all over the dome. If anyone at any point wishes to leave the dome, they can activate their beacon and one of the domes caretakers can teleport in to you and teleport you back out. If anyone gets hurt, help will be standing by."

Alex smiled a bit, this would be easy, very easy for him and Aelita. Aelita however, did seem a bit worried.

"You will need your parent's signature to be part of this exam, letters have already been mailed out and we will need them returned within two weeks if you want to be part of this exam. If you parents do not agree with this, or you feel you do not want to be part of it yourself, there is a twenty page written exam that you may take as well. This exam is scheduled for the middle of week, and you will be excused from any classes you miss, but you will be expected to make up any tests you miss. All of your teachers have been notified as will attempt to fill you on the lessons the week of this exam before hand." She continued as she stood up to write a few more things on the board.

Alex started to zone out a bit though, looking over the map of the dome and what little information it gave. He began to wonder what kind of other surprised were in store for him in the dome. "The dome itself has a nearly seven mile diameter, so it will be very large. Although I've done this exam a few times and I will be joining the class itself in the dome, I am limited in what I may tell you. I can however tell you that there will be rain and lots of it. A series of heavy sprinklers, fans, lights, and a few other devices will simulate real weather conditions and they love to use the rain." Miss Rise turned and looked at a pair of student who seemed to be laughing a bit. "This is no joke, let me assure you of that." She stated firmly. "A live series of tesla coils will create functioning lightly, and while it will not be fatal, it can still hurt. There will also be a number of feral pokemon in the dome with us, and while they are trained, some fooling students in the past have learned the hard way that they can still be provoked."

Aelita was starting to worry a bit now, she had storms and the way that Miss Rise was explaining it, it sounded like it was just going to be one big storm. Alex smiled though and gave her a gentle nudge. "Relax, I'll be in the same class, I don't see why we can't pair up." He said softly.

"Ah yes, you do have a good point, Alex." Miss Rise smiled looking at him having heard his comment. "One last detail for the exam is that you can in fact pair up, it is even recommended, however, you will not be allowed to pair up into more groups of three." She announced and the class started to look around to try and figure out who, if anyone, they were going to pair up with. "You will not be alone in this task however, all eight of advanced survival classes will be there, but will be slip into two groups for the exam." She stated. "That's still around eighty students per group though. Expect to meet up with a number of other students while in the dome, but with as much room as there is, you all can spread out. If you meet up with others, you can help each other a bit, but like I said, no more then three people per camp site." She said. "I expect everyone here to be well behaved as well. Any attempts to start a fight or sabotage someone else, which includes stealing their things, will result in an automatic failure of my class. In addition to this, you will be required to take the written exam, and make up all missed work, not just any missing tests." She warned. "And that is just my punishment, I'm sure principal Hope will have other tasks for you as well should you mess this up. She will be joining us on this trip after all." A few students were still smiling thinking that they could pass this exam with ease, and abuse the trip, but the sudden mention of Luna Hope's sudden attendance for the trip quickly changed that, leaving Alex the only one smiling, the last one still thinking that this would be an easy trip.

Lunch was quiet possibly the most annoying part of the day for Alex. The school, having four separate cafeterias meant the whole school had a single lunch period rather then having groups split up into separate lunch breaks. Combined with a nearly free roaming rule at the time, this meant that nearly the entire school was search for Alex during that time. He smiled having been asked to drop off a few papers to office though and got a small head start on everyone having been let out of class a few minutes early. He already told Aelita that he was planning to eat on the roof, which is where he managed to hide for most of the lunch period. It wasn't until the last ten minutes, that someone found them and while it was slightly annoying, it wasn't that bad. Of course, by the time that lunch had ended, most of the rumors about Johnson being in the area had been dismissed, leaving only a few.

All through fifth period and sixth period classes, people were asking what new site Johnson had found, and many more asked about how they could get in on it. Some even joked that if Alex himself was part of the team, the it couldn't be hard and really pushed the issue about it. Of course, Alex kept his cool, so far at least. Of course, it helped that over half the class was hit with double homework on sixth period for their constant talking and Alex had to smile that the teachers, or some of them, appeared to be on his side.

His seventh period class, a study hall of sorts proved the hardest part of his day so far, everyone once again on his back about what was going on. He didn't want any of them to know about his plans to move though. Even though he thought that there may be a good chance of them dropping the subject after learning about the bathhouse on the mountain side, there was also a good chance that it would only lead to him acting as though he was hiding the truth.

Eighth period was no better, but at least he had some actual to do during the class, Mrs. Storm kept the busy as they started their own reviews for work on the final exam, which was going to be another large project for them.

Alex got another break during his last period class though, but it wasn't an easy break. Although everyone had just finally decided to give up asking him questions, the air conditions in the gym were out leaving the place rather hot. With the outside fields currently occupied with things though, namely holding what was left of the old debris from the explosion last week, the group stays inside for the most part in the heat. The pair of PE teachers did take a bit lightly on the students though thankfully.

Given how the day was though, Alex was more then happy to be heading home with Aelita, only to have her phone go off. Aelita quickly checked the message and looked at Alex. "It looks like were headed to my place tonight, my dad wants us over for dinner. It's already in the oven and he wants to talk with us about the upcoming survival class final." Aelita explained and Alex didn't even bother to try and argue. Part of the deal after all was that they would show up for dinner at least once a week.

It was quick enough detour over there and the two of them could already see Samuel in the kitchen working over something on the stove.

They walked up and Aelita smiled as she was in, she could smell the fish baking in the oven, her favorite no less. She could also smell the pasta and sauce, along with something else she could place yet, but knowing her father and the heavy cinnamon smell in the air, it was some kind of desert dish.

Samuel waved as they walked in. "Just give me another ten or twelve minutes, you guys can take a shower if you want." He told them as he opened up the oven to check on its contents.

Aelita nodded and did just that, gym class was a bit hard today, but that was mostly due to the lack of air conditioners in the gym.

Alex just took his time and looked over the books along one wall in the dining while waiting, then offered to help Samuel set the table right as dinner was done.

Alex was surprised a bit, it appeared that Samuel had prepared plenty of food, the table looking like a feast, rather then a dinner for three. There two kinds of fish, Aelita favorite as one of them, but even Alex couldn't identify the second, Samuel saying that it was imported by a friend of his and wouldn't spoil the surprise. There was also a large pasta dish, homemade meatballs to go with it and a home cooked sauce as well, Samuel obviously going out of his way tonight. It took just another minute, but at last, Aelita came downstairs from her shower. "Sorry for taking so long." She smiled as she took her seat next to Alex.

"No worries, we need to let the pie cool a while anyway." Samuel replied as he took his own seat across from them and started to serve out the food. Alex took a small bit of everything to try it all, while Aelita quickly went for a full helping of the fish. "Now, I guess for starters tonight, where did you two run off to last week without telling me." He said a bit annoyed, but not really angry.

Alex had completely forgotten to tell him about their plans and mentally cursed himself out as he took his first bite of the mystery fish. "Hey, this is good." Alex smiled enjoying the fish very much, but Samuel cared little for the comment right now. "As for where we were, I was looking into moving somewhere." Alex quickly saw Samuel about make his own comment, but quickly continued. "Don't worry, it won't be far, its just a good ways up the mountain."

This now got a confused look from Samuel as he started to eat. "Care to explain that?"

"Alex found this wonderful bathhouse on the mountain." Aelita smiled enjoying her fish a lot. "There were even Velvet Roses growing there."

"I thought that rose was extinct." Samuel argued a bit looking at them.

"So did I, until I found the place last year." Alex stated. "I've been going there a lot on those weekends I just vanished when I wasn't with Johnson. For that matter, I was the one who called him up here to help out restoring the place."

"Well, that puts those rumors to rest I suppose." Samuel nodded lightly about all rumors going around as to why Johnson was in the area.

"Me and Alex want to move into the bathhouse after we restore it." Aelita said. "Its nice and big, plenty of room."

"I would image that there's plenty of room, but how are you going to make that work?" Samuel asked.

"I've been given a few invites to stay at the park as a caretaker when I get out of school, and have even talked with the owners some about getting my own place there on the mountain." Alex replied. "They never really argued, but they did seem to have to think on the manner. They could use someone watching that part of the mountain, it's a big mountain after all."

Samuel nodded, that was very true. "And its not that far from where we are." Aelita added. "Besides, We'll need someplace to stay once school lets out and this bathhouse could easily be fixed up and made into a real place for us to live. We'd have our own hot spring, plenty of room, and I'd be able to grow my own garden." Aelita smiled going back for seconds now.

Samuel nodded again, it was all a good idea, and they seemed sure about it. "Very well, we'll see how that works out." He said before pulling out a small letter. "I do have one thing though that we need to discuss."

"The upcoming Advanced Survival Final." Alex could easily tell that's what the letter was about. "I'm expecting a call from Johnson himself about the topic as well since he's listed as my guardian still and I'd need his permission to take the hands on exam."

"So, your definitely going to want to do the hands on test." Samuel looked to Alex and he quickly nodded. Aelita was a bit unsure, but still nodded in the end as well. "You too then."

"Yes, we're allowed to team up, so I'm sure Alex would take care of me, its only three days and nights." Aelita said still reassuring herself a bit.

"They gave me a full list of things that they expect you to be able to do there in the letter, I'm ready to sign it, but I want to make sure your ready. I'm not going to if your unsure." Samuel said. "It's a large dome, much larger then the one I took the test in."

"Wait, you took a test in a survival dome?" Alex asked.

"My class was one of the first, back in Kanto." He said. "It wasn't easy, but I'm sure you'll do fine in this place."

"How did you do on the exam?" Aelita asked, her interest peaked now on the topic.

"I could have done better." He said slowly. "I was a bit careless then, twisted my ankle on the last day not watching my step, but I still passed."

"What kind of dome where you in?" Alex asked.

"Jungle dome, just much smaller then the one at the Harrison Training Center." Samuel told them. "Like I said, I passed, but it was a toss up there for a while. You can't really doubt yourself if you want to do this, which is why I'm only signing that permission slip for you if you're sure you want to do this."

Aelita nodded, she really wanted to try it. "Sir, trust me. Compared to what I do as a hobby for now, this will be simple." Alex said and nodded to Aelita to reassure her.

Aelita nodded back and looked to her father. "I now I want to do this." She said more confidently then before, but still just a bit unsure.

"You don't need turned in for two weeks, so if you can tell me without a doubt your ready by that time, I'll sign the paper." Samuel stated. "Until then, go make sure you have your things ready. And pick out some thicker clothing, and preferably some long pants if you have that you don't care if they get ripped up." Samuel said. "I wouldn't pack anything you don't want ruined and I've still got some good flashlights you guys can use that double as lanterns."

Alex smiled a bit, he was more then ready to help them out as best he could. "Those will be nice."

"I figure if your going to do this, you may as well be prepared." Samuel added and both Aelita and Alex nodded. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this, but I know a few other tips." He pulled out the map that was included with the letter and pointed to a few spots. "There are smaller fresh water springs, one of my clients worked on the dome a bit and I knew that was a choice place for your advanced survival finals." He grinned. Alex couldn't help but smile a bit himself

"You have our thanks for any tips you give, but don't make it too easy for us." He laughed a bit, he was finally starting to really warm up to Samuel.

"Oh, I have no intentions of do that, I'm just making sure that you two don't get hurt in there." He pointed to another section. "I would highly avoid this section though, they've got a very small hill in there and while there may a few fresh water springs around it, that's a key place for whatever predators they put in there. I know they are trained, but camping around it could be seen as cause for them to possibly challenge you." He warned and Alex quickly nodded. Aelita was also paying special attention to her father's tips right now. "One last thing I would like to point out, is this little strip right here." He pointed to a small pool close to the entrance. "I would suggest just avoiding it, its not fresh water, it's a trick to see how many students are actually paying attention." He smiled.

Alex nodded again. "Thanks for the tips."

"Yea, thanks." Aelita smiled as she finished her second helping. "Say, what's that cinnamon smell anyway?"

"That would be new cinnamon roll the bakery gave me a recipe for since they didn't get enough business for it." Samuel said and walked out the kitchen to get the large roll. He quickly cut off a piece for Aelita, and offered one to Alex, but he passed it up. "You don't want a piece?" He asked.

"I'm not to big on cinnamon." Alex replied. "I like a little here and there, but never did like the rolls too much."

"I understand, we all have our tastes." Samuel smiled as Aelita tried hers.

"Oh wow, this is good." She smiled. "Alex, you should really try this." She cut off a small piece for him to try and deciding to make her happy, he tried it.

"Its… okay, but no, you have my share." He told her. She smiled and finished her share, putting his piece away to enjoy later. Alex once again helped clean up while Aelita went upstairs to start packing for the final that was coming up.

Samuel smiled a bit seeing his daughter so eager and then turned to only to watch a HUMMER pull up with the Yelstien family emblem on the hood. "Hmm, what's Johnson doing here?"

Alex just shrugged as he went to open the door for him.

"I thought you might be here since you weren't at your." Johnson smiled. "Good day Samuel." He nodded as he walked in. "Alex, I think its time you got your license." He said which earned him an odd looked from Alex. "I'm sure you don't want to have to make that climb up the mountain every time you head home or want to go some place." Johnson idea suddenly perfect sense with that last note. "I'm also sure that it may be in Aelita's interest to get hers as well."

Samuel nodded a bit as well, but recent laws had changed the legal age to start trying to get ones license to eighteen. "And what brings this up?" He asked.

"I've done a little bit of research, and as long as we both approve of the act, as well as Principal Hope to verify their good grades and behavior, it seems that they may start taking driving classes early." He explained. "I've been looking into the idea for a while now and just finally got the last few things I needed." He pulled out two sets of documents. "Alex, what's your view on learning to drive."

Alex stood there with a blank face for a few before nodding. "I guess I'm going to need to learn how sooner or later, may as well be sooner."

"Alright then, there is a school set up that will take you as early as this summer, assuming you and Aelita can avoid any fights and keep your grades up." Johnson stated just as Aelita came back down.

"Hello Johnson." She smiled. "Did I hear you talking about getting me and Alex into driving school a bit early?"

Johnson nodded. "And I've got a few cars picked out for you to practice with if you want to claim them." Johnson stated. "Brian's old jeep is getting traded out for something more powerful at the end of the month, so you two can use that one, along with my old Ford." He stated. "The insurance will still be in my name, but I image that we shouldn't have to worry about that."

Alex smiled a bit and nodded. "I'll do my best."

Aelita smiled as well. "I will too. I won't let you down."

"Well, I guess that takes a few things off my list of things work on, but I still assume that you'll both eventually want to pick out your own car or truck as some point." Samuel stated looking at them.

"I'm not too picky on that matter." Alex replied, but it was obvious that Aelita was thinking about what kind of car she wanted to get.

"When that time comes, I'll help them." Johnson said. "As Alex is part of my crew, I'm sure I can get something commissioned for the both of them." He said.

"Don't you think getting custom built vehicles is a little much." Samuel looked at Johnson.

"I prefer certain added features for the vehicles of my crew. And I'm sure Alex will as well, as we'll need another driver and vehicle at some point for our job. We've been finding larger temples all the time to explore, which means we'll need more supplies are storage space." Alex had to agree on those points, but Samuel was still a bit skeptical at first.


	9. Chapter 9

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

= = = = = = This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

Chapter 9

Three more days passed and school was once again proving hard for Alex, the new string of attention he was getting was thankfully getting easier to put up with and the disappearance of Johnson and the others quieted things down a lot. As usual though, there were those that worked harder then ever to find out why Johnson was there. Alex also managed to get a small security camera, courtesy of Imperial Crafters who owed Johnson a favor. They even had it installed and set everything up for Alex and Aelita, even adding a program to both of their phones to allow them to view the camera at any time as long as they had a signal. The mystery of who broke in though was still just that a mystery. Things had once again settled into the usual routine. On Friday though, both Alex and Aelita had been called down to see Luna during their last period class, which wasn't that bad since it was just their gym class. It turned out that Johnson had also been talking with Luna about everything, and she gave them a quick run over of what they would need to do in order to make sure that they could get into a set of driving classes. Everything was simple enough though, keep up their good grades and keep up their good habits. As long as they didn't cause any problems, they would easily be able to get into the driving school, and obtain their licenses before summer even ended. There was of course the fact that even if they got a car or two, they still wouldn't be able to drive it to school, which was already fine with them as had always walked as it was. While all of that proved a simple meeting, it was the next meeting of sorts that caught Alex off guard.

His phone alerted him to a new e-mail, his presence had been requested at the Suicune Falls Park Office. A bit confused, he started the trip there instead of heading back to his place.

It took a while for the walk there, but at last, they arrived at the park, the guard at the entrance greeting them happily having already been told that Alex was to be expected. The marill even pointed Alex to the office as they walked up.

The office was a large building, built around a massive oak tree. Half the building itself was actually nothing more then a giant tree house and it got Alex thinking about a few more possible ideas about how to fix up the bathhouse. With so many trees around the bathhouse, it would be easy to set up some sort of deck or similar construct in the branches and several new ideas spawned in Alex's head as well as he walked up. Walking into the building, he could already see the owners, a pair of vapereon, the Devla's talking with each other by the desk. "Oh, Alex, it's so nice to see you again." Grace stated as they walked in. "Johnson said that you had a something to discuss with us, a…" She turns to looked at her husband trying to figure out what it was again.

"You claim to have found a bathhouse and seem to want to take us up on our offer of letting you move onto the park grounds." Victor finished.

"Johnson told you about the bathhouse?" Alex looked at them.

"He told us a bit." Victor nodded. "We're kind of interested in it ourselves from what he told us, but you did find it first and already started work on it."

Alex nodded. "I hope you don't mind."

"Why not at all. We've known you since you moved here and you've been a very good kid. We even made the offer of letting you set up on the park grounds remember, we could always use another caretaker like you." Grace smiled and got into the cabinets, pulling out some cookies. "Would either of you like any?" She asked. Alex shook his head, but Aelita was happy to try a few.

"Wow, these are good." Aelita said after trying one, a nice sweet mix of peanut butter and chocolate.

"Thank you, I just made them this morning." Grace smiled back.

"Well, I suppose that we should over the terms of this deal then. I don't see any problem with letting you set up a house on the mountainside. It would even help us out a bit." Victor stated. "There would be a few conditions involved, but I'm sure we can all agree to them."

"So, you two are ready to allow me and Aelita to move into the bathhouse after we finish with the repairs and add a few things?" Alex asked.

"Of course we are, I thought we made that point." Grace said as she pulled up a few more chairs so that they could all sit down. "There's nothing to big, but I would like to clear up a few things."

"Of course." Alex replied.

"For starters, we would like to ask that you have a guest room or two put in that some of our caretakers could use from time to time. It would be nice if we had a place for our caretakers to stay when we have them walk over the mountain instead of having to camp out on the mountain all the time." Victor explained. "I know it's a big mountain, but our family did buy the place and we intend to keep this park well maintained, especially the mountain."

"I'll be sure to make a note of that." Alex pulled out the ESE that Johnson had left with him to draw up a few possible floor plans for changing the bathhouse a bit. "Anything else." He asked writing a note on the side to put in guestrooms.

"Why yes, Johnson said that they were hot springs at this bathhouse?" Grace asked.

"Well, there are four huts where hot springs were dug up yes, but only one of them is still standing. I'd have to check and see if the others are still salvageable." Alex explained.

"I'd like to ask that you keep hot springs open up a bit. I'd like to offer their use to the caretakers around the park. It's a stressful job at times and even if it's just for the weekends, I'm sure a nice dip in the water would do them good." Grace smiled. "It would be your call if you let others use them, but I'd like to ask that you try and salvage them all and let our caretakers use them for free.

Alex nodded again. "I think that's very reasonable as well. It is your mountain and its understandable that you'd like use of any hot springs you'd find on it."

Aelita nodded as well, in agreement to everything so far. "Also, we would like a second drive cleared up to your place, Johnson said that he had one route ready to be cleared, but it led straight off the mountain." Victor added. "We've been thinking about clearing out a path all around the mountain for a while, to help us watch over the place and try to keep up with poachers, but we never did follow up on it. At one point, we did have a drive planned out and this bathhouse is actually not much of a detour from what we had planned." Once again, Alex and Aelita nodded to this.

"Our last request is probably the biggest though. We know that you're likely to work with Johnson after you get out of school, but we'd also like to help keep watch over the mountain while you're here. It's a big mountain like we said and we only send some of our caretaker's up around the mountain everyone once in a while." Victor continued.

"Is there anything else we need to know about this deal?" Alex asked.

Both Mr. and Grace looked to each other before looking back at them. "I think that's it at the time. I'll need to look into having a friend of mine write up a written contract though to verify everything here. As for payment, I think that if your willing to pay for everything to repair this bathhouse, set up a pair of guest rooms for our caretakers, and pay the fee to install power, water, and sewage lines, then I'll say that you paid enough to live there." Victor told them.

"It's a deal sir." Alex held out his hand and Victor readily shook it.

"Very well, as long as you keep us informed of the progress of the bathhouse, just fix it up as you can." Grace smiled.

"I do have one more question though. It would be separate from the deal we just made, but do you have any plans for the current place your living?" Mr. Delva asked. "I know a friend who is planning on moving back to Nenwill in a month or two and he'll need a place to live. He's not much of a fancy person, but being a sandslash, he likes his homes underground and I think he might like a place like the one you have."

"I guess that's a possibility. I wasn't entirely sure what I was going to do with the place anyway." Alex replied. "I've still got at least two more rooms to add to the place, maybe a third."

"What all do you have in it right now?" Victor asked.

"I have the living room, kitchen, dining room, bathroom, and one bed room set up, and just added a small closet not too long again." Alex explained. "The bathroom is the only completely furnished room though, but I do have electricity hooked up to all the rooms so far, and the kitchen has a full set of counters."

Victor nodded thinking about. "And what kind of rooms were you thinking about adding?" Victor asked.

"I was going to add a second bedroom and store room since the place won't have an attic or garage. I was also thinking of adding an open patio like spot along the side of the house right into the cliff side." Alex explained. "But if you say a sandshrew may want it, then they probably won't be interested in the patio."

Victor nodded. "I'll let him know that you may have a place up for sale then. I offered him a place on the park, but he said he'd try to find an underground place first." Victor smiled.

"Would you like to stay for dinner though, if you're going to be staying on our mountain, you might as well be family." Grace smiled as she asked them. "It's getting close to that time anyway and we would love the company."

Alex looked up very surprised by this offer, and Aelita quickly responded for him. "That'd be very nice, thank you." She smiled lightly bumping Alex to get him to respond.

"Yes, thank you." He added.

Alex remained mostly quiet over dinner, as usual, but Aelita did push him to make some conversation over the dinner that Grace prepared, enjoying herself as she talked with the Devla's. They had a lot more questions about the bathhouse and Alex was happy to answer them, but when the questions ran out and the conversation changed, that was when Aelita had to keep directing comments right at Alex at times to keep him talking. She knew that he wasn't the most talkative person, but she smiled knowing that she could get him to talk some every once in a while at the very least.

Even after dinner, Aelita agreed to stay and talk with the Devla's for a while longer, even keeping Alex in the conversation a bit before it was time for them to leave and head back to Alex's place. Having gotten back so late though and already having dinner, Alex sat down to do a little bit of studying before he went to bed. Tomorrow, Alex had already set up plans to go looking around for furniture for the bathhouse. Aelita was eager to start looking over furniture as well, and had even shown a major interest in the Dragonian culture, the group who seemed to have built the bathhouse.

The next few following weeks were rather busy. During the week, almost every class was talking about finals and the like. The weekends were filled mostly with Alex and Aelita planning out details for the bathhouse. This included such things as buying light fixtures and other small easy to carry things up the bathhouse house for now, but there was still plenty to do otherwise, doubly so with the upcoming finals. Through a lot of hard studying and preparations though, Aelita was able to say without a doubt that she wanted to attempt the advanced survival final. Samuel had been expecting such and having known that she would want to try it, he had signed the paper the day he got it.

It wasn't until the third week that things changed a bit and Alex officially got the paper work from the Devla's saying that it was okay for him to live there and could begin proper work on the bathhouse. With that small detail taken care of and the okay in hand, Alex dished out the money for a sub branch of Imperial Crafters to come out and cut down the few trees that needed removed for now. In addition, he had them lay out a full gravel driveway, which given the length of the drive, was understandably a two day job taking up most of that week end.

The following Monday, Alex and Aelita were asked to stay behind for a minute with most of their teachers, with the advanced survival class final starting tomorrow, they were given heads up about what they were missing. Luckily, Alex was the only one to be missing a test, or as he called it, a graded review for his independent living class.

That same night, Andrew showed up as well. At Alex's request, he had shown up to watch over the bathhouse now that the drive was done and Andrew had kindly volunteered to even watch over a crew who would start setting up power, water, and sewage lines up the bathhouse house as well.

Tuesday morning was rather different from most mornings. Like normal, they woke up at their usual time, got their showers, and had their usual breakfast. Rather then head to school early though, Alex stayed back a bit, did a large check up on the weather as well as make one final check list for Andrew to go over with the bathhouse. With that out of the way, they made their way to the school, each with a duffel bag rather then their usual schoolbooks and homework though. Both of them had packed up roughly the same things, a pair of t-shirts and shorts, as well as two pairs of jeans and heavy shirts. Samuel had also kindly given them a pair of powerful LED flashlights, which even doubled as lanterns to a degree. The final thing that had with them was their pound of berries they were allowed to bring. Alex had spent some time gathering a nice big bag of yoshama berries while Aelita brought a pound of sitrus berries.

With everything gathered up, the two of them left for school, arriving a few minutes before the school bell rang out. Rather then head for their classes though, they went to the back to the bus turn around. Miss Rise and Luna Hope were both there as the students started to gather. Just as the last of the students showed up, a rather tall murkrow also showed up with a large clipboard in his hands.

"Everyone gather round, bags over here." Miss Rise announced as the group started to deposit their bags in front of her. "Mr. Williams will do a quick roll call."

Everyone gathered around the murkrow as he quickly called out names. With that done, everyone got onto the buses. As expected, it was a long ride over there and the group didn't arrive until midday. As the buses rounded the last corned around the mountain the complex where the survival dome was. Even from a few miles away, the sheer size of the dome was impressive, a web of metal and glass, but even as they reached the entrance they still couldn't see inside.

As they drew closer though, they could see the rest of the facility, including a second much small dome hidden behind the larger one. A second set of busses also pulled up behind them as they arrived. Upon getting out, everyone was informed that two schools would be taking the test at the same time as they were led out back.

A large pavilion was set up for them when they arrived giving them their last warm meal until the test was over. In that same hour though, everyone was allowed to talk back and forth, as well as decide who would be teaming up with who.

Once their hour was up though, the group was gathered up again into a small dome connected to the real one. The group could see all sorts of various plants scattered around, several other people in lab coats greeting them as they passed and entered a large room where all of their bags had been set out for them to collect.

Once again, Miss Rise, Luna, and Mr. Williams were all there as well. In addition, The principal of the second high school, a marill, and the school's advanced survival teacher, a blastoise were standing there as well. "Everyone gather around. Make sure you come with the group you'll be staying with. It's not required, but we do highly recommend that you at least pair up in groups of two, no more then three per group though." Miss Rise announced opening up a large box next to her with Mr. Williams. Alex and Aelita, mostly at Alex's request had decided to just stick to the two of them as group. Once everyone from the other classes had found out Alex was there, many of them had tried to force their way in as their third group member, which was what ultimately led to Aelita deciding to agree with Alex.

With everyone lined up in their groups, Mr. William spoke up this time. "The devices you are about to be handed are our from of tracking devices. They come with two separate clocks, one listing the actual time, and a second countdown timer showing the remaining time until your test is over. In addition, there are a few other features." He held up a small watch like device for everyone to see. "If at any time you feel that you are unable to continue with this test, or find yourself or another badly injured, you can press the red button on the bottom." He tilted the device back a bit to point out the bottom he was referring to. "All of these watched had GPS chips in them, so we will be able to track you for the most part. You may all help each other, but like we said no more then three mons per campsite. In addition, this device will be the key to the lockers your about to use. Every thing over then what you are allowed to take on the test with you will be locked up. This means no cell phones or anything else." Mr. William stated rather firmly, earning a few complaints around the group. "Finally, yes, this dome does have many feral pokemon in it. They are not food and any attempts to hurt them can result in an immediate failure to your exam. There are plenty of berry bushes all around the dome. You can all go a few days without a hot meal."

Once Mr. William was done talking, Miss Rise was the next to talk. "All right, groups step up one at a time to collect your beacon." She stated. "Once you have your beacon, head over to the lockers and put everything that is not part of the test away. Inside each locker, you'll find a nice large waterproof hiking pack filled with the rest of your supplies. Once you have everything for the test, wait by door over here." She pointed a rather large circular door behind her. Unlike the rest of the dome, which appeared to be of some sort of filtered glass no one could see through, the group could clearly see where they would be spending the next three days for the first time. Even Alex was impressed with some of the tress he could identify from a few trips to the Johto region with Johnson.

The group was a bit slow to get their beacons though; each one had to be turned on and paired up with the group members of the others who they were paired with. While this was happening, groups who had already picked up their beacons went over to the lockers to get their hiking packs as well as put away everything that they wouldn't need for the test. It took about another hour, but at last, everything was done and everyone was wearing a beacon.

Everyone was given a few last minutes to prepare as Miss Rise and Luna as well as their counterparts for the second school walked off into a side room to change into their gear and get everything they would need. Luna seemed to have caught the attention of most of the group, even surprising Alex when she walked out with a full hiking back and matching clothing, even having her own hiking boots, a massive change from the simple dresses and suits she often wore at the school. Once they were back, the doors to the jungle opened up and everyone was walked inside. Just walking in alone, everyone could feel a small jump in temperature compared to the room they were just in and it was very wet. It was a very good thing that Alex and Aelita had come prepared wearing a pair of nice hiking boots where many of the other students had worn tennis shoes, a mistake on their part. Looking off to the side of the entrance, Alex and Aelita could both see the few small pools of water Samuel had told them about.

"Alright, the test begins as soon as these doors close." Luna stated. Behind the group, a pair of red flashing lights signaled the door was closing. Everyone watched as the door closed, then above it, a large red timer started up showing 3 days remaining and already starting to count down. At the same time that the count down started, everyone's beacon also beeped, sharing the same countdown. "Spread out, find a campsite, and set up. The rain starts in three hours, don't be caught off guard." Luna smiled. "Aside from just surviving, the extra tasks you have to complete have all been randomized and are in your hiking packs."

Alex quickly started walking along the north side of the wall with Aelita. Everyone else also started spreading out as the test started. Alex did make a bit of hurry though, having studied the map, wanting to get to the place that he and Aelita had picked, but still wanted to get there early in case they had to make a few adjustments.

It took about an while for them to reach to the spot they had chosen, some of the terrain a bit slow to travel over, but they had gotten nearly to the back of the dome. A large pond was behind them, surrounded by trees, several of them very large with a thick canopy between them, and a good lack of under brush made their select spot very good. The only problem was that there was no visible berry patch in the immediate area. This was okay with Alex though, at times when setting up camp with Johnson, the nearest berry patch could be up to a mile away. Of course, this was very different then camping out with Johnson; Alex didn't have time to test any of the gear he was given to see what kinds of things worked best. That hardly slowed them down though.

Alex and Aelita quickly looked at their watches though. By the time that they had really looked at the site, they were already two hours into the test Alex didn't really like that. They opened up their backs and Alex quickly pulled out the tent that he had been given and had to laugh a bit. He unfolded it and could see a few good-sized holes. Aelita quickly pulled out his list of things and right at the top of the list of things he needed to do in addition to survive the three day timer was fix his tent. She had to laugh a bit herself as she pulled out her tent, which was not littered with holes. She smiled as she went to work finding a way to hook the two tent frames together while Alex went about trying to find a fix to his tent, looking around for some thick bits of underbrush with large leaves to try and make patches out of.

It took a short time for Alex to get back. By the time he did though, Aelita had managed to get both tent frames connected, and had her tent on the frame, but before she could get Alex's side of the tent up, the rain started. It was heavy start and stayed heavy as Alex quickly rushed under Aelita's side, grabbing his bag and getting that under cover as well. The rain was quick to reveal a few trouble spots with their idea of combing the tents though. The corners were not doing well to keep out the heavy down pour and even with the canopy of trees around them, the rain was barely slowed around them.

Alex did point a few spots though that seemed to be getting less rain then most of the area and wanting to keep a dry spot to sleep as well as store their things. He quickly put on his back as Aelita put on hers and they carried the frame over to the new location. Of course, the plan was flawed at best and halfway on the trip over, the frame came apart in the middle. From there, it was a quick run to move their broken frame to its new location, using the half that was still good to keep their packs and everything else dry. They quickly went to work trying to fix their tent as they got soaked. It was a long process as with the rain making things even harder, but at last, with the two of them, they managed to fix the tent frames. Some of the extra rope they were given went into making it extra strong as well as provide an extra support beam for the tent.

Patching up Alex's side of the tent took some work though. Luckily, both of them had been given a fair bit of heavy sewing thread and a few needles. Alex could only so much though with them. He managed to find enough thick leaves to make a few patches, poorly sown though given that the leaves were wet and were not that strong. He layered them up though, then sewed them into place over the holes in his tent, then to try and help keep the water, took a bunch of small twigs with plenty of leaves and tried to make a top for the tent.

Alex didn't like the cheap work he did, but he was already cold and quickly got into the tent with Aelita. She had already pulled out a pair of towels starting to dry herself off as best she could for now before wrapping herself up in a blanket. About the time that Alex started to dry off, Luna had walked up to them.

"Alex, why so wet?" She grinned a bit knowing which lockers had contained 'damaged' tents to begin with. She had no need for an umbrella, the rain hitting a very thin barrier over her keeping her dry as she walked up to them.

"Oh, hello." Alex nodded his head to her as he got under the tent to dry off.

"Hmmm, off to a slow start?" She asked looking at the patch job he had done. "It's not what Katherine would have done, but it seems to be working enough." She said.

"Katherine?" Aelita asked not sure who that was.

"You know her as Miss Rise. I know she's not to big on students calling her that though, always wanting to be called Miss Rise in class." Luna told them as she looked around and checked their location. "Very nice spot by the way."

"Thanks." Aelita smiled. "What are you doing over here anyway?"

"Checking up on a few groups, those with tents like this." She replied. "Katherine decided to cover the south end of the dome and I'll watch over the north end."

"Yea, we had a bit of a rough start." Alex stated. "Just need to find a berry patch or two though and we should be able to ace this."

"There is more to this test then just camping out." Luna reminded him. "You both had a set of objectives and places to mark." She pulled Alex's sheet out from the edge of the tent, making sure to keep it dry as she looked it over. "Hmmm, looks like you got a hardest of the randomized tests." She smiled. "Fitting that you would get it. It should at least make you work a bit for the grade."

Alex sighed a bit, but still had to smile. "I understand. If it was just camping out, then it'd be very simple for me, much easier then what I'm use to doing with Johnson. Still, I don't think this will really compare though."

"We'll see." Luna handed him back his sheet. "Well, I've got to go check on the few groups in this part of the dome. Lucky for you two though, you seem to be a bit isolated, which means you may have a berry batch or two to yourselves. I'll check up on you tomorrow then, I don't think you'll be needing much help." She waved to them as she started walking off.

"We'll be waiting then." Aelita called out as she left and walked into the brush using her mind to gently clear a way.

"Well, I'm already rather wet, guess I might as well just walk around for a bit, see if I can find a few berry patches." Alex stated looking through his bag finding a poncho and putting that on to keep somewhat dry, still wearing a large towel around his shoulders and back to try and warm up a little. He also grabbed the lantern that Samuel had loaned to him incase it got dark early.

"Are you sure?" Aelita asked since the rain looked a bit rough still.

"If this rain forest is as good as they say, we're liable to only get another few hours at best of good weather while we are here." Alex countered. "You remember that Miss Rise said that they loved the rain in this place and I saw a few flowers on the way over here that only do grow nicely in near constant rain."

Aelita nodded at his point and decided to check her bag for now, looking through the things they had and what her objectives were. Alex decide that it would probably be a good idea if he took his sheet with him as well in case he happened to find anything while he was walking around, making sure to fill up their canteens before going anywhere though.

It didn't take long for Alex to find a few thick berry bushes, although, he did have to make his way through some thicker underbrush to get them. He grumbled a bit though finding out that if he had gone around the brush another ten feet, he would have found a good path through them already. He was off to a rough start, but he stuck with it. As he looked over his sheet though, he did mark off the find a food source objective, flipping the sheet over to show a small map of the place.

Looking around, he went to find a landmark of some sort to try and mark the berries on the map, but couldn't find any. He walked around the berries for a few, finally finding a large boulder, also marked on the map and guessed his location based on it. Flipping it back over though, he quickly looked the sheet over again finding a rather odd objective.

"Locate, name, and mark the location of four separate pokemon you encounter." He stated. A small rustling in the tree above him got his attention, he knew there was a pokemon up there, but he couldn't make it out. At the very least, he marked the spot a second time, this time for the tree. He'd hopefully find out what kind of pokemon was in the tree later on, but for now, he let it be. He was getting cold and fast, and started making his way back to Aelita and their tent.

Alex walked back what he thought was the same he had walked down to get to the berry patch, but ended up a bit east of the pond, still able to see the tent, but coming up behind it. The jungle was a bit thicker then he gave it credit for, but he wasn't too worried, by tomorrow, he should have a good layout of the land. He walked back up to find Aelita studying her list of objectives that she would need to complete during the test as well.

"I found a berry patch." Alex said laying his sheet down so that she could see where he marked the spot on the map. Aelita nodded and looked it over. "It's a bit of a walk, but it's not that far and it's large." He told her.

"Well, that's good." Aelita smiled. "What kind of berries?"

"It's a mix of a sitrus, oran, and cherri berries from what I saw, but I didn't inspect it fully." He took off his poncho and began to strip down out of his wet clothes, drying off completely before getting into a pair of shorts and T-shirt. He wrapped himself up in his sleeping for a bit as well to warm himself back up as he starts to wring out his clothing in a corner of the tent that seemed to be getting wet anyway. It took him a while to get his clothing mostly dry before finding a few limbs that were hanging under the tent to let them stay on over night.

They still had at least an hour of light left by the time that was done though, so they two of them decided to do a minor bit of exploration around the pond hoping to find and name a few types of pokemon. This plan didn't work so well, although they did hear a few pokemon around them, they couldn't seem to be able to see any. At one point though, the rain was coming down extra hard. Luckily for them, they were in a relatively dry spot when that came though and managed to wait out the small bit of heavy rain before making their way back to their tent.

Alex and Aelita both dug into the berries they had brought with them for dinner that night, the two of them sharing a sleeping bad that night as well.

The next morning was a nice sight, the rain had slowed considerably and their tent was for the most part, still dry, even though one of the patches had given out and would need replacing. Alex was quickly to take advantage of the light drizzle and woke up Aelita. Both of them got ready soon enough, and Alex led her to the berry patch he had found. Along the way, both of them were able to identify what pokemon Alex had heard when he discovered the berry patch. A pair of sleeping spinarak were just barely visible in the tree and both of them were able to mark down where they had found it. After spending a good sum of time collecting the various berries around the berry patch, they headed back to their campsite and started work on a fire pit as well as repairing the broken patch in the tent. With the light drizzle, work was a bit slow, but they were able to get a fire pit dug and covered enough that the rain would hopefully let it burn.

The repairs on the tent however were not so easy, the drizzle didn't last long enough for Alex to finish sewing the new patch into place before it started coming down hard again, undoing most of the work he put into it. Aelita had to hold Alex's poncho over him and the hole while he did his best to patch it again. Alex was once again thoroughly soaked by the time it was done, the poncho doing just enough to really cover the hole, but not cover Alex. Once again, he was forced to dry off and change clothing, wringing out his wet clothing. Aelita helped him as well, even getting a good idea. She find a nice long stick nearby with a split tip and stood it up in the on the edge of the tent, in one of the spots where it was relatively dry and then hung a rope across the tent with the stick supporting the middle bit. "Now we have a clothes line." She smiled and Alex kissed her for the idea, leaving his still slightly damp clothing on the line.

The next hour was spent making other minor improvements to the tent and trying to get a fire going. All of the wood around them though was damp like their clothing, so it was proving a bit hard since neither of them knew any fire type attacks. That didn't stop them from getting a bit creative though. Alex knew a few the plants around them burned really well, all they needed was a good spark. While Alex was gathering up a few of the leaves from the select plants, Aelita started putting a nice line of stones around the fire pit. They wouldn't want anything to get out of control after all.

As Alex came back, he started worked on a making some wood chips. At the very least, the chips he made would be dry and hopefully help start their fire as well. It took a little bit, but Alex placed the chips in the bottom of the pit, adding only a few of the leaves he had collected for now. With those in place, he reached into his bag, pulled out the flint and tinder, and gave it a few tries to start the fire. He got plenty of sparks from it, but after ten minutes of trying, he popped his wrist.

Aelita took over from there and thankfully got them their little fire in the first few tries. She smiled and not even a minute later, Luna had shown back up. "Hello you two." She smiled as she walked up.

"Luna." Alex nodded.

"You two seem to be fairing well. One of the few groups with a fire going without a fire move." She smiled leaning over to get into the tent with them.

"Yea, we started it." Alex told her as Aelita reached around and pulled out some berries.

"At least you got the fire going and it looks pretty easy to maintain." Luna stated taking a seat next to it. It wasn't too big, but it was still warm and she liked that.

"Yea, as long we don't set our tent on fire, then it should last." Aelita smiled offering her a few berries, but Luna shook her head.

"I'm good." Luna said as she looked around inspecting the tent. "Well, I can see that you had to replace one patch at least."

"It broke sometime last night." Alex informed her as he went to fill up his and Aelita's canteens again.

"At least the new patch appears to be holding." Luna said looking it over a bit more. "Interesting use of the thread, braiding it like that to act as a support before putting it on."

"When your supplies are limited, sometimes its best to spend the little extra to make sure its done right." Alex replied. "Of course, this is a bit different then what I'm use to."

"I'm sure." Luna checked her canteen seeing Alex come back with their canteens filled up. "No doubt Johnson tests everything he buys." Alex nodded. "And how are you holding up Aelita?" She asked.

Aelita thought about it for a few before answering. "It's a bit rougher then I though, we haven't seen any pokemon other then a few spinarak, so we'll need to do a bit of exploration to finish everything up. We're kind of hoping for a break in the rain though."

Luna nodded, that was understandable. "I see. Don't get your hopes up though and if you do get your break in the rain, make the most of it, I doubt it will last."

Aelita and Alex both knew that true. "Yea, the last break didn't last long enough and I got soaked trying to fix the tent again."

"It most certainly seems dry now though." Luna looked it over again to prove her point.

"It took some work, but we do have a dry place to sleep." Aelita smiled. "Of course Alex was the one to get most of the work done. I'm not sure how I would do in here without him."

"Don't under estimate yourself Aelita." Luna stated. "You do have one of the highest scores in all of the advanced survival classes. I'm sure Alex would be happy to try and convince Johnson to take you on as part of the team. I heard you did on your first run. I can only image you'll continue to do well working for him." She smiled. "Well, at least until you find your time is needed elsewhere, I'm sure you'll be waiting a child at some point."

Aelita blushed a bit, but nodded. "Thanks, but how did you know I was on a run with him?"

"Johnson likes to keep me informed, just in case you guys end up spending an extra day out there and can't show up in time for school." She stated. A heavy rustling in the brush next to them caught their attention as they all over, a pair of treecko fall through the bushed playing. "Well, that makes two kinds of pokemon you have seen." She smiled as both Alex and Aelita quickly checked the spot on their map, in addition to writing down the pokemon. "I'd better get going though, I still have a few camps left to check up on." She said before getting up and walking off. The treecko finally noticed them though and once again hid in the bushes as Luna walked off.

Alex and Aelita waited a while longer for a break in the rain, but it never came though. The two of them got dressed and did a quick close up of their tent. Once they were ready, they started their bit of exploration. They still needed to list two other types of pokemon they had encountered in the dome, but they didn't seem to find many where they were. The pokemon, while still making a bit of noise around, remained out of sight as they walked around. Luna was right though; it did take them a while to run into anyone else, but all they came across was an empty camp sight. Aelita recognized one of the shirts left out to dry on a nearby tree branch though and quickly opted to get away from the sight. It belonged to one of the guys who had tried to join their group who had succeeded in getting slapped by Aelita when trying to suggest that Alex was worthless and seemed to have a grudge against him.

Alex was all for the idea, quickly moving on. It was still early afternoon though and that meant that they just started really exploring. Of course, they still had to be careful not to get lost.

Wandering around for a bit longer, they across another good sized pond. Seeing another berry patch along the shore of it, they both moved up figuring that it would be a nice spot to get a snack. As they approached though, it was Aelita's turn to get soaked, a large, but not really powerful water gun had been through from the pond, a vapereon quickly revealing itself as it quickly swam up to the shore.

"I guess that patch is taken." Alex laughed a little bit seeing how soaked Aelita was now. Aelita gave him a small glare, but couldn't help laughing a bit herself as the vapereon laid down right by the berry patch, almost looking like it had stuck its tongue out at her. The two of them moved on, Aelita no longer caring about staying dry since she had been soaked anyway. They both marked down the vapereon on their sheets and continued on passing up the berries looking for anther berry patch for a snack.

The two of them walked along for another hour, with only partial luck at finding berry patches. Although they had found a few more, the variety of berries they had found wasn't exactly what they liked or were similarly taken by other mons. They did manage to not only find and list four separate pokemon on their sheets, they had passed twelve now and were just marking down number thirteen, this time a sleeping ariados.

As they turned to start walking back to a patch of belue, nomel, and grepa berries that had passed about ten minutes ago. Neither Alex or Aelita really liked the choice of berries they had come across aside from the first patch by their campsite, but grepa berries were a good fall back for now and so they sat under a tree for their small snack. They chose the right time though to take cover however as the rain really started pouring again for a while.

Alex and Aelita talked a bit, but as the rain finally dropped back to the usual heavy pour and they got up, Alex had a bit of trouble, his leg was acting up again. It took them a much longer time to get back to their camp and it was a very good thing that they had brought their flashlights with them as it was already dark by the time they got back. Things weren't all good when they got back, a large set of tracks had shown that their camp site had been the obvious sight of some pokemon who liked to explore almost everything they hand.

While Alex's backpack and things had been left alone for the most part, Aelita's clothing had been scattered about the tent, most of it a wet, leaving her just a single dry outfit. This did not go well with her as she whined a bit, not happy, but it was over and done with, Alex helping her gather her things back up and hang them up to dry. Luckily, aside from being wet with just a bit of dirt, her clothing was easily hung up and wouldn't need a real wash to be worn again.

After about an hour cleaning up their little camp, mostly due to lack of light, they finally fell asleep again.

Aelita was the first to wake the next day, as usual to the sound of heavy rain. She got up slowly, deciding to go get some berries and make it a bit easier on Alex. She got dressed and put on her poncho before heading out, making it halfway there before she ran into a few sleeping pokemon. She smiled checking the area to make sure she could mark them on the map when she got back and got a good number of berries for breakfast before heading back.

What should have been an easy trip quickly turned into a lousy morning though when Aelita tripped over a branch hidden in the light underbrush, only to fall face first into a large, very muddy puddle. Her poncho hardly protected her this time as the nearly liquid mud quickly seeped in through the top of the poncho. She was not amused as she got back up grumbling a bit. She decided to just take off the poncho as she walked back, flipping it inside out to let the rain rinse out the poncho while also hoping that the heavy rain would help rinse her off a bit.

By the time she got back, Alex was up, stretching a bit when he finally noticed her. "Aelita…" He looked at her all covered in mud.

"Not my idea of a good way to start off the morning." She replied handing him the berries. "I need a bath."

Alex quickly looked to the large pond behind them. "A little mud won't hurt it, and Luna did say that we were the only ones around here if you want to try it. I haven't seen any pokemon in it, so it should be good."

She looked at the pond herself. She wasn't exactly welcoming of the idea of bathing openly like that, but with all the mud she was now wearing; she didn't have a choice. The rain hardly rinsed it out of her fur; she could feel that in some spots it was getting deeper.

In the end, she sighed a bit. "Keep an eye out for me." She said softly, a bit annoyed.

Alex quickly nodded, pulling out a towel for her and some of her dry clothing, setting that all off on the side. She slowly got undressed right on the edge of the pond before slipping in. The water was cold; not that it was surprising. She shivered just a bit as she slowly forced herself in deeper, finally getting up to her waist. Alex was true to his word though, keeping an eye out as she looked back at him.

She worked a bit fast to try and scrub the mud out of her fur. For the most part, it worked well. Most of the mud hadn't been too deep into her fur, but there were a few spots where the rain had helped the mud get deep into her fur. Not all of it was easy to get though, there was even a spot where she could feel it right on her actual skin between her breasts and that spot irritated her a lot. She growled a bit after even a minute, she really couldn't clean that spot.

The sound of something moving through the brush quickly got her attention as she turned, quickly ducking down to her shoulders. Alex was already moving to where they had heard the sounds, but before he got there, a pair of mons form the other school taking the test, a prinplup and a nuzleaf both walked up. "I told you there was a fresh water pond up here, just the right size to go for a swim." The nuzleaf said before looking at the pond and the head sticking out of it.

"Finally." The prinplup didn't even bother looking before running and jumping in only noticing Aelita right before he jumped in.

"Hey, what's the big idea." The nuzleaf demanded seeing Alex rushing over. "This was suppose to be a private spot."

"Can't you guys at least look before you jump into the water." Alex yelled at the prinplup as he surfaced.

"Who the hell are you?" The prinplup yelled back. "What makes you think I have to look before I go for a swim huh? It's not like you own the place."

"Yea, what's the big idea telling us what to do." The nuzleaf quickly walked up to Alex as if sizing him up.

"Get out." Aelita screamed as the prinplup quickly swam over to. The prinplup ducked under the water again only to surface next to her.

"Hey Jake, guess who decided to take a little skinny dip." The prinplup laughed.

"I'm trying to take a bath." Aelita growled quickly pushing him back as she swam to the shore where Alex had a towel ready.

"Here, use mine to cover up." Alex quickly gave her his towel, which she quickly pulled into the water to cover herself with before getting out.

Aelita quickly rushed for the tent, closing both sets of flaps to try and get some privacy while she dried off and got changed.

"What's the big idea you two, don't you have any manners?" Alex growled as the prinplup got out of the water.

"Hey, you're the idiot who chose to camp next to a swimming hole." The prinplup countered. "I'll swim where ever I like. I may just even set up camp here."

Alex quickly pointed his own tent out. "We already set up here and you know the rules. There must be at least a good five hundred feet between campsites, the first group to set up has the right to any one spot." Alex stated quoting some of the rules. "I'm sure Luna would be rather irritated if she showed up to find you two causing problems."

"Oh, what's she going to do?" The nuzleaf asked. "We just came here for a bit of swimming, its not our fault that you friend got caught without any pants on." He laughed.

Aelita finally came out of the tent rather angry now. "You could have at least looked to see if you were alone before just barging in like that." She yelled, a bit of mud still on her face, she didn't have a chance to get completely clean, the spot between her breasts now itching badly from some of the dirt rubbing against her skin under the fur.

The nuzleaf laughed a bit more. "You should have known better then to fall in the mud." He smirked taking a step back as he laughed, only to fall back himself.

Alex had to laugh a bit himself; even Aelita had a partial smile. "What was that about falling knowing better then to fall in the mud?" Alex grinned.

"Shut up." The nuzleaf shouted at them rather annoyed himself.

Aelita growled a bit as she quickly went back to the tent before she started a fight. Although normally quiet and calm, she wasn't in the best of moods and she could just tell that that nuzleaf would push her to no end.

"Hey babe, where you going?" The prinplup laughed as he swam over to the shore. "I just want to look."

"Leave my mate alone." Alex quickly yelled at him.

"Oh calm down." The prinplup waved his hand in Alex's direction as if shooing him off. "I'm just having some fun." He then squirted a bit of water in his face laughing again.

Alex quickly growled in anger, but another set of rustling leaves caught their attention as a floatzel walked into the area with a bikini on and carrying a pair of towels. Like the nuzleaf and the prinplup, she was also from the other school, and like Alex had a rather angry look to her. "What's the idea of this." She stated rather loudly. "Must you dirty fools bother me at every pond. Shoo, go, I must have a bath." She stated. "Pack up and leave."

"What?" Alex looked at her rather angry now. "Me and my mate already set up camp here." He once again pointed to his tent as Aelita stuck her head out to see what was going on.

"Oh pipe down drama queen." The prinplup smirked as he turned and took a seat near the shore, but not leaving the water.

"You two…" The floatzel quickly growled at nuzleaf and the prinplup. "Can't you two jerks find someone else to annoy."

Before the fight could get much worse though, the rain once again picked up and hard, this time even having a number of tesla coils Miss Rise had told them about start up. A few bolts flew in the air around them for a second as the floatzel shrieked out quickly running for cover while even the prinplup and the nuzleaf both hurried back to their camp. Alex made a mad dash for his tent as well.

As he was running though, he noticed the floatzel hiding under a tree, still getting wet, but refusing to leave. He growled a bit, but ran over to where she was. "Shouldn't you be heading back to your tent?" He asked a bit concerned.

"I set up about a half a mile east of here, the other side of the lake near the rattata nest." She said. "Its got next to no cover around it aside from a small group of trees." She replied.

Alex grumbled a bit but motioned for her to follow as he dashed back to his tent.

As soon as he walked in though, Aelita quickly gave him a confused look as he brought her with him. "Her camp is a little ways off." He pointed back outside to the rain again which was getting worse. To make matters even worse, the three of them turned when they heard a small tearing sound as Alex's patch once again tore under the heavy rain. "Oh come on…"

The floatzel whined a bit herself as she dried herself off as best she could with her damp towel while Alex quickly got up and went back outside to try and fix the tent again.

As Alex started work on the tent again, Aelita and the floatzel talked with each other. It a was long hard bit of work for Alex, but after an hour and having to improvise a bit, finally just deciding to sew one of his towels into the tent along with a few of the extra patches he had made just in case.

Finally done, Alex stepped back into the tent. "I'm sorry for earlier." The floatzel said as he walked in, quickly offering him a towel. "My name is Joanna." She smiled.

Alex looked to Aelita who just smiled back. "Its okay, we talked a lot." She smiled. Alex just shrugged a bit as he quickly laid back after he got dried off.

"I didn't mean to snap at you like that earlier, but this was the only pond on the map that was left." Joanna told Alex. "The other three around my camp have all been taken, one by a rather protective vapereon, and the other two have become large swimming holes for a lot of the other guys." She said.

"I can understand that." Alex nodded.

The three of them talked for a little while, until a break in the rain finally showed up. "If you two still want a bath, you may want to hurry up, the rain has calmed down, but I don't think it will last." He told them as he walked back into the tent having went out to get some berries since they had eaten what they had brought with them already.

Aelita smiled and kissed him lightly. "Thanks for doing so much of the work here." She quickly got a towel and some spare clothes as both her and Joanna went out to try and take their baths again. Alex once again volunteered to watch over the pond, Joanna blushing a lot at his comment, but Aelita reassured that he wouldn't look if she didn't want him to.

This time, both of them had their chance at a bath, and while it was a bit cold, they both managed to get clean this time uninterrupted.

Once they were done, Aelita talked with Joanna a bit more before Joanna decided she'd better get back to her camp site while the rain was still light. The rain didn't bother her too much, but the lighting as well as all the extra mud the rain would bring did not sit well with her.

It didn't take long after she had left though that the rain started back up. Having a strong feeling that it was only going to get worse, Alex made one last trip out to grab as many berries as he could for them to eat that night. It was a rough walk, having fallen twice in the rain on the way there. He didn't take a bath when he got back though, not with the lighting out. There was another small break in the rain though, which Alex used to take a very quick bath to deal with the worst of the mud.

The rest of the day was mostly spent under cover as the rain only seemed to get worse, with lots of lighting to boot. Watching the storm from the cover of their tent, Alex had to admit that he was very impressed with the place, to replicate such weather conditions so nicely. This time though, Alex's new patch for the tent held up, the towel much stronger and with the leaf patch under it, keeping most of the rain out.

The rain continued on well into the night as well. Alex had volunteered to stay up for a while, babysitting a fire he had just barely managed to start. With all of the wet wood around them, Alex was lucky to find enough dry wood to start a fire, which he used to slowly dry some of their clothing as well as dry some more wood to burn later.

Alex had stayed up a long portion of the night, looking over the camp before finally passing out.

The final day of the day of the test started off just like last night, heavy rains and Alex and Aelita just decided to stay in their tent. They had most of their objectives done as it was, the only thing that they had left to do was find a few nests, which they had trouble finding. Alex mostly blamed on the location. When he first picked the spot based on the map he was given, he had assumed that there would be plenty of berries around.

Still, they started to pack up as they woke up. Alex was doing fine, but in the middle of pulling down things off of the clothesline Aelita set up, Alex got his foot stuck in a small thing of roots. He went to turn, but his foot didn't turn with him as he fell onto his side. He yelled out as Aelita quickly rushed over to him.

"Alex, are you okay?" She asked rather worried.

Alex went to get up, but quickly found himself on the ground again, his leg was acting up and big time.

Aelita quickly pulled his pants leg up and took his shoe off while he was busy keeping his leg elevated and straight, easier said then done on the not so even ground that he clothesline was next too. Alex's leg was already swollen and Aelita put her hiking pack under his leg before grabbing a towel and dipping it in the pond before bringing it back and carefully wrapping Alex's leg in the towel.

"I'll… be okay." He stated slowly, still in pain helping wrap the leg as both of their beacons started flashing.

"Three hours remaining." The prerecorded messaged started playing. "You may now start disassembly of your camps and begin your walk back to the exit." A small light on the edge of the beacon light up pointing them in the direction of the exit. In addition, the rain quickly started to slow down to light drizzle now.

"Well, at least that's some good news." Alex smiled a bit. He tried to get up again, but it wasn't going to happen then.

"You sit and rest that leg." Aelita stated rather firmly. "You did a lot of work here, now let me take care of sum." She left him her pack to rest his leg.

Alex went to argue, but just looked at him and he stayed quiet, she was just as stubborn as he was at times. Doing it alone though, it took Aelita about an hour to take everything down and put their things away in addition to burying their camp fire making sure it wouldn't light itself up again.

While Alex's leg had calmed down a lot by the time that Aelita had finished, he still had a bit of trouble getting up. He still managed to get up on one leg with ease, but walking on his right leg was a bit hard. Aelita found him a good walking stick though and they started walking back. It took them a fair bit longer to get back however; they still had a good ways to go when their beacons sounded again. "Attention. Your test is now over." The beacon stated in the same recorded tone as before. "You may now exit the dome. You have two hours to make it to the exit. If you require assistance, please press the emergency call button now."

Aelita looked to him as the device finished its message, but he shook his head. "It's not the much further, I can make it." He said as he started walking again, carefully walking around a large berry patch.

Aelita gave him a slightly worried look, but merely helped him along. It took another half-hour for them to reach the door that led out of the dome, a few more groups around them as well. In addition to Mr. Williams, Miss Rise and Luna were both there, along with their counterparts. Seeing Alex come walking up with a walking stick, Luna quickly walked up.

"Alex, are you alright?" Luna asked taking his pack.

"My leg is acting up. I twisted it while taking down our tent and my leg followed along." Alex explained taking off his beacon handing that to Mr. William along with Aelita's.

Luna placed a hand over his leg, and closed her eyes, checking it herself. "I don't feel anything out of place, but you take it easy." She said. "You can both take a ticket for use of the showers. In the meantime, there is a full buffet set out, go get something warm to eat."

Before either of them could make comment though, they heard a small beeping noise coming from Mr. Williams. "Excuse me, Miss Hope. I think this is one of your students paging us." He held up a pad to her showing her a map of the place. "It belongs to Dexter Jones, you said he might be a bit slow at a few things."

Luna nodded. "I'll go check on him." She vanished in a flash of light as Miss Rise walked over. "Come on, let's go." Miss Rise helped him out of the jungle dome into the control dome where several other mons were busy putting their bags away and gathering up their personal belongings that they had put away at the start of the test. Many more were busy getting something to eat while there was a small line near the bathrooms.

Alex took some time merely resting his leg, deciding to wait a bit before grabbing a ticket to get into the showers, but Aelita was in a bit of hurry to get in the shower, grabbing hers before she even set her pack down.

The rest of the day was fairly easy, a few mons getting check ups for minor injuries, Alex being one of the worst that he could see. He could however tell that there were some mons missing, but it was impossible to tell right now whether or not they just hadn't shown up yet or had to be pulled out early from the test.

By the end of the day though, everyone was out and accounted for, everyone had a good warm shower, and had been fed. The busses left a little late, but it was a quiet ride back, and Andrew was waiting for them at the school. From there, it was back to Samuel's house for a late dinner and bit of talking, but both Alex and Aelita decided to call it night early.


	10. Chapter 10

Whitewing

Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon. Only the idea and OC's.

Author Notes:

- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

= = = = = = This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

(Character thought)

Disclaimer: Don't own Pokemon, never have, never will. Only the idea and OCs behind the story are mine.

Chapter 10

The rest of the week was a rather easy going for Alex and Aelita, as was the next week when the rest of their finals took place. As usual, Alex wasn't worried at all, easily finishing all of his finals with time to spare, but Aelita still had a bit of trouble with some of her finals, still having a bit of trouble with some of the harder math equations and a bit of trouble with history. In the end though, she felt rather confident herself about her finals as well.

As soon as their last final was done though, school was over for the seniors and they headed back to his place. Giving it another try, Aelita did her best to convince Alex to attend the graduation ceremony with her, but he had no plans to attend it at all, never even bothering with anything for graduation, just wanting to be done with school. He still made the counter point that she was more then welcome to attend herself, but she just shook her head, it wasn't worth going if he wasn't with her. She still hung onto the hope that she could get him to go though, after all, the ceremony took place in three weeks just after the rest of the school got out.

As they got back though, Alex called in a ride to Kartonu City. When questioned about this decision, Alex quickly pointed out that Kartonu was the best place to find all the furnishings as well as everything else that they would need for the bathhouse. He also wished to check to see if anything more of his various bits of dungeon findings had sold yet, as they would no doubt need the money if they had.

As Alex finally got through, he was a bit surprised at the reaction he got compared to the usual run around of asking if anyone had time to pick him up that day. Johnson was more then willing to give them a ride, even claiming he was going to head out to meet them even if Alex hadn't called. This caught Alex's attention as well as Aelita's as they began to pack up some clothing wondering what Johnson seemed so eager to tell them.

Johnson arrived around late afternoon and the rest of the day was spent traveling back to Kartonu. Johnson kept telling them that they had to wait for what he was going to tell them though, saying that he was waiting for a package to show up first before he could tell them this big news he had. Already a bit tired from three more days of finals though, both Alex and Aelita went to bed that night when they arrived.

As Alex woke up early the next morning, he went through his usual routine for being at the penthouse. Get up a bit early, take a shower, grab a quick breakfast, and then he headed back to his room. With Aelita still sleeping a bit, he decided to try and quietly move a few things aside next to his bookcase. As he did though, he quickly learned that the place could use a tad bit of dusting. Although Johnson and the others often tried to keep his room clean for him, they often didn't like to move his things around too much and every once in a while, missed a spot that needed cleaned. Not wanting to wake Aelita seeing that it wasn't even seven o'clock yet, he would put off the small bit of dusting and moving a few of the large stands for now.

Even though he decided to put that off though, he did have one little problem. The book he was looking for, a book that just so happened to have a fair deal of information on the people who built the bathhouse, the Dragonians, was on the far side of the shelf, behind a very large wooden crate, nearly as big as the wall mounted plasma he had in the room. Alex flipped it open wondering why he still kept it in his room, having been a while since he last opened it. He easily undid the lock on the top and opened it before smiling. It was a very old painting of a large waterfall scene of a Spellsworn temple. He had planned to have it restored and hung up, but constantly kept putting it off. Thinking about it, he would probably do a lot better by putting it into a storage closet for now. Thinking upon that same subject a bit more, he realized that most of the stuff he had in his room could do well being put away for a little while. He had been so busy with school that he hardly had time for most of it, but that would soon change, after he finished up with the bathhouse.

He finally realized just how much free time he was going to get now that he actually out of school. He could finally put some real time into his hobby and do all the real research he had put off over the years just collecting all the trinkets and odds and ends he had in his room. He was sure Aelita would like a little free space here as well, after all, this was where they would be spending a lot more time now rather then just on the occasional school break.

Taking a seat in one of his chairs though, he leaned back a little too far while looking around trying to decide what all could be put away. He fell backwards with a shout, toppling a stack of books and waking up Aelita.

"Alex!" She cried out hearing him yell and seeing the mess of books.

Cheryl opened the door a few seconds later only to see Aelita helping him up and quickly rushed over to see what had happened.

"Sorry." Alex said rubbing his head as he got up with Aelita's help, still coughing a fair bit though from the dust he had kicked up.

"Alex, what happened." Cheryl asked seeing the mess.

"Leaned too far back." Alex replied slowly, getting a small sigh of relief from Cheryl.

"You need to be more careful." Aelita stated as she slowly began to help pick up the books.

Johnson walked in a minute later to see them picking up the mess. "Alex, I thought you were more careful then that?" He smiled holding a pair of yellow envelopes. "Either way, you both have a payday."

"Payday?" Aelita looked at him confused. "But I don't even have a job." She questioned.

Alex just grinned. "He means that your first dungeon run paid off. That bit of your treasure you left with him to sell has sold." Alex quickly put the books back and took the two envelopes, setting his down and taking a set. "Here's how it works."

Alex opened the envelope with her next to him and he slid the contents out onto the bed, five small stacks of bills, as well as a few documents.

"This is the breakdown of what you get." He found the sheet he was looking for with a list of things that Aelita had left with Johnson to sell for her, namely gems and a few smaller pieces of jewelry that she didn't want to keep from her first dungeon run. Alex pointed to a set of four numbers down on the bottom. "The top number here is the total amount that was received for everything that has sold up to now." Alex pointed to the number directly below that first one he pointed out. "This number is Johnson's share. He takes a little bit to cover the shipping costs and other fees since all of this is done in his name." Alex then pointed to the third number. "This amount here lists all the taxes and what's left over is yours to spend however you like." Alex stated showing her that she had a good 1100 dollars profit just from the few gems that were sold. "The items remaining on the next page are things that haven't sold."

"You mean I just got over a thousand dollars to spend as I like?" Aelita questioned not believing that she was just given that sum of cash.

"That is your money." Johnson stated. "Try not to spend it all at once, you'll want to save a good chunk of that for later anyway."

Alex looked at him, something about the way he worded that, without so much as a hint as to why or the usual its best to put some in the bank idea made him a bit more suspicious as to what Johnson was not telling them.

"Say, what's this big thing you said you'd need to tell us anyway?" Alex asked.

"Can't tell you that yet." Johnson replied. "Still waiting on paper work first." He quickly walked off before Alex could make any other inquiries. Instead he looked to Cheryl, but she just smiled.

"Sorry Alex, he said he'd fire any of us if we told you anything." She said walking out herself. "Besides, you two need to get ready to head out anyway. That little payday of Alex's should be enough to get the basic furnishings for your new place."

Alex looked to his envelope at the mention of his large payday and opened it up. In comparison to Aelita's payday, his was a great deal larger, all of the gems he had taken had sold, some of them much more valuable then he had anticipated. A collector had not only paid top dollar for them, but also sent a letter to Alex thanking him for completing a rare set of gems he was collecting and even asking if he had any addition gems of the sort to complete a second set.

Alex checked his documents for it, before pulling them out as well as Aelita's, putting them both into a small desk he had in the room filled with similar documents. "Well, with that done, I guess we had better set you up an account here in Kartonu." Alex stated as he quickly got dressed, letting Aelita take her shower and get dressed herself while he took care of the small bit of dusting.

It was a quick walk to bank, and Aelita soon had her account set up. Aelita had deposited 300 into the account herself, and Alex helped her out a bit, transferring 700 from his account to make it an even grand to start her off with. She questioned Alex about it, but he smiled and told her it was perfectly all right. Aelita tried to argue again, but Alex just had the clerk pull up a copy of what all was in his own account and she quickly had to question him again.

Alex already had nearly 80,000 in his account, but he kept telling Aelita that most of that was spent on many things, actually really only having about 7,000 to his name that he could spend, still more then give her a nice start for her bank account. When Aelita questioned him again about how most of that was spent, he gave her the small list of things he already had plans for. This included a car, which he was determined to pay with his money for everything rather then let Johnson chip in as well as try to pay him off for all the other help Johnson had given him. He also pointed out the estimates he was given concerning everything else that needed done with the bathhouse, and a few other things.

From there, Alex and Aelita made a few stops around the town, Alex convincing her that it was okay for her to spend a bit right now. It was her first 'paycheck' of sorts given to her by Johnson after all, which Alex assured her would be far from the last as well.

The two of them spent most of the next three days looking through the many various furniture stores in Kartonu City looking for furniture that would fit the style of the bathhouse. Aelita made it a partial point to try and keep in the same style of furniture for as much of the place as they could. Alex happily helped her try to achieve her goal, but it proved difficult as hand carved wooden furniture, while common, rarely came with dragon like designs.

Alex and Aelita had just finished their third day of looking around, finally heading back to the Dragon's Den, Aelita even now having her own card key for the pent house. As they entered into the lobby though, they ran into Samuel.

"Oh, hello Aelita." He smiled walking up.

"What are you doing here, Samuel?" Alex as he walked up.

"I didn't know you knew about this place." Aelita questioned him, but was happy none the less to see him.

"Johnson requested that I come up here with this." Samuel stated holding up an envelope from the Nenwill High School. "He said that yours had come in late last night as well."

"I see." Alex said as he moved over to the elevator. "Well, I guess we better go see what our finals looked like." Alex smiled still very confident with his grades. Aelita smiled and nodded herself as Samuel joined them.

As soon as the doors opened to the pent house though, Johnson and the others were already waiting for them, the place redecorated a bit. In addition to the usual crew, there was also a rather well dressed luxray.

"Alex, I'd like you to meet the mon responsible for funding the majority of our digs." Johnson stated as he walked up.

Alex looked over the luxray. "So, you are the unofficial member of Johnson's crew, who I've been paying extra health insurance for at the digs." The luxray held out his hand towards Alex

Aelita looked him over as well as Alex waited for a few, before shaking his hand. "Alex Whitewing, and you are?"

"David Belkin." The luxray replied. "I'm the one who got William into this business and introduced him to the greatest historical mystery there is, what happened to the Spellsworn."

Johnson quickly stepped up before David could continue though. "I'm sure there will be other times for that. In the meantime we have other business to attend to."

"You are correct." David said as Johnson walked over to Samuel.

"Glad you could it Samuel." Johnson shook his hand and took the envelope containing Aelita's grades.

"Of course, like I could really miss a chance to meet the full team." Samuel nodded to each of the other members of the dig crew. "And given the nature of this job, I'd kind of like to get to know the group that my daughter will be working with, she's still technically my responsibility for another year even if she has found a mate." Aelita blushed a bit at her father's comment.

"I'm more then capable of taking care of myself now." She quickly stated.

Johnson laughed a bit before handing both of the envelopes to David. "Alright you two. I don't just hire anyone. This is a full time job, you won't have much free time in any one place, and I really don't see you being able to take college courses while working with Johnson. This is not a job for everyone and I'd rather that you have a good education as a fall back plan." Alex gave him a bit of a confused look, but understood things for the most part, already knowing that Johnson had some sort of real partner paying for the start up on most digs. Aelita on the hand was much more confused, still not entirely sure who the mon was. David opened the envelope containing Alex's grades and quickly looked it over. "Very nice Alex." He nodded towards Alex lightly, impressed with the grades. "A's across board with an A- in Advanced Survival, a must have course if you ask me."

Alex smiled a bit, his grades more then acceptable to him. He was partially expecting a B in Advanced Survival though for not completing as many of his tasks as he would have liked, not to mention the problem the tent continuously gave him.

David then opened up Aelita's sheet of grades handing Alex's his for him to view. David looked over Aelita's sheet for a few before handing it to her. "Hmmm, B in history overall, but I'm sure we can teach you a everything you need to know. Johnson assures me you've taken a real interest in our line of work as late. I'm rather impressed with your A in Advanced Survival though."

"Wait?" Aelita quickly looked down at her over all grades, her advanced Survival Final higher then Alex's. "Alex, I thought we would get the same score since we paired up."

"No, we were both given separate tasks remember, and we managed to get more of yours done then mine." Alex smiled. "But look at this way, you know you're prepared to camp out with the team now, A's on the final for that class are hard to come by after all."

Aelita smiled herself as her father looked the sheet over himself. "Hmmm, I thought we agreed nothing lower then a B+, but I can live with that." Samuel grinned.

"Johnson, you said you wanted to add two new members to your crew which means higher up front costs on my end. A bigger team also means that we don't need to talk about hiring as many extra hands for this suppose High Temple you've found." David stated.

At the mention of a High Temple, Alex quickly looked up from going over his grades a second time. "High Temple?"

"Nothing to worry about right now Alex." Johnson replied. "We've only got a few ideas on where it might be."

Alex just nodded. "He seems rather eager." David grinned. "I think I'll take the risk and leave whether or not you hire them to you, you have the approval on my end."

Aelita quickly looked up herself now. "Are you saying that me and Alex are actually part of the team?" She asked a hopeful.

"Yes, you and Alex and now both on my payroll." Johnson grinned. "That was the news I was waiting to hear, making sure that David here was okay with. And since you both have just graduated in addition to now being part of the team, I think a celebration is in order." He pointed around to the various decorations that had already been set up, Cheryl already walking out of the kitchen with a large cake while Andrew pulled opened the wine cabinet.

"Alex, Aelita, you're technically part of the team now." Andrew stated. "Feel free to try something if you want, just take it lightly." He opened up a small bottle and handed it to David. "I stocked up on a little something for you, extra heavy on the caramel." David quickly gave his thanks for the drink, pouring himself a small glass.

"No, I'm good." Alex smiled. "That Silver Sun is more then good enough for me, but I'll still pass even on that tonight." He smiled.

Aelita looked over though, kinda thinking about it, but decided against it herself. She did however quickly go for the cake that Cheryl was cutting up. "I made this myself, my father's recipe." She said as she cut off a piece for Aelita, the cake having three layers, a light blue layer in the middle with two pinkish layers around it.

Aelita tried a small bite of it, nodding happily at the taste. "It's so soft." She smiled as Cheryl cut up a few other slices.

"My father still makes it better" Cheryl said as Bryan came up for a piece as well Alex, Cheryl more then happy to give them each a share.

"So, Aelita, Alex. Now that your part of the team and finally out of school, I image you'll be spending a lot of time up here." Andrew said walking over with a glass of coke for them both. "I hope your up for the job, its always fun having a new recruit."

"Thanks." Aelita took the glass and took a sip as she slowly ate her piece of cake. "I just hope I can keep up. Alex keeps telling that one place we were in is nothing compared to some of the real temples you guys have found."

"Yea, that was a kind of small initiation chamber, but as you can see, that last trap they had in place was a rather vicious one." Andrew stated. "Of course, they don't often use traps like that for most of their places, only in select areas."

"That's good to know." Aelita smiled as Johnson came up.

"Now don't scare them off too soon, Andrew." Johnson joked a bit. "But you still need to be careful with kind of work. Only half of it though is exploration, the other half is done here." He motioned to the library. "There's a lot of study and research involved with our work. Most groups only do the studying part, we're just one of the more active groups out there."

Aelita nodded. "Relax, I'm sure she can handle it just as well as I can, it will just take her more time to get into the proper flow of things." Alex stated.

"It's perfectly alright." David had walked up to the group now as well. "I never expect someone new to this line of work to just fall into the act, it takes time and we have plenty of it. She's young, she'll learn."

"Thanks." Aelita smiled at the encouragement she was getting.

"You don't need to thank us." Cheryl said. "Alex thinks you'll do fine and we're all willing to give you the chance. If you want to back out at any time, it's perfectly alright with us."

"Cheryl speaks the truth, this not a job to be taken lightly, but its not like your being forced into it. We'll help you work your way up, start small and build up into bigger temples and dungeons." Andrew stated.

"Enough talkin." Bryan smirked as he walked up to them. "Dis be a party, work can be waitin, have some fun."

"Bryan's right." Johnson stated. "Tonight is a time for us to celebrate your graduation and welcoming you to the team."

The party really got going after Johnson's last comment, and continued on for a while, Johnson even ordering a new movie for them to watch and enjoy, which technically wasn't suppose to be out for another month yet. After the movie, Johnson brought out a few more snacks, David having his own little snack as well. Most of the team didn't like the taste of the small homemade candy, although the outer coating was nice and sweet, it had a rather strong tasting center that all of them minus Bryan found to taste too much like a very strong, but bitter coffee.

"I wouldn't try one of those Aelita, they may smell sweet, but trust me, its not." Alex told her.

Aelita looked at him. "But it smells so sweet." She took one of the smaller ones and gave it a small lick, finding the outer coating much to her liking, quickly popping it into her mouth. "I don't know what you're talking about, they taste very nice, like a mix of honey and lemons." She smiled.

"Just give it a few, that filling will make you change your mind." Alex smirked as she bit into the candy to see if really was that bad. As soon as she did though, she quickly grabbed a napkin and spit it out, the fillings strong taste quickly her mouth. She reached back for her coke and took a drink, only to cough a bit.

"What all was in that?" She asked, her coke tasting very off, but she merely passed it off as the after taste of the candy.

"Just a secret recipe I picked up from a friend." David laughed. "Don't worry, the taste passes after a little bit."

Aelita quickly took another drink of her coke as she walked over to try and find something sweet to replace the taste of the candy.

Alex didn't think too much of it, or anyone else for that matter, but that only lasted a few minutes when Aelita stumbled into the coat rack and knocked it over.

"Aelita? You okay?" Alex asked quickly walked over.

"Has anyone seen my drink?" David asked, his question going ignored for now.

Aelita just giggled a bit, turning to face him. "Oh, hey." She smiled and quickly kissed him.

Everyone turned to see this, Johnson a bit worried by the way she wasn't standing steady. "Aelita…" Alex was caught a bit off guard by her actions.

"What's wrong?" she asked smiling as she leaned on him a bit.

Alex quickly took her cup and sniffed it, smelling something else besides the coke in it. "David, what did you mix up for self again?" Alex asked recalling his comment a minute ago.

"A coke with some of that coffee in the case, what brand was it?" David turned to Johnson who quickly sighed.

"It was that bottle of coffee rum or something like that I picked up in Sinnoh when we first got the place, I thought it got thrown out years ago." Johnson stated as he quickly walked over to help Alex when Aelita stumbled over her own feet again.

"Just how strong was it?" Alex asked as Aelita kissed him again.

"Too strong judging by the way she's standing." Johnson said.

"Letsh play a bit." Aelita smiled trying to kiss Alex again, but her breath was a bit strong for him.

"David, why didn't you keep your drink closer to you?" Alex asked a bit annoyed with him.

"What makes you think I'm at fault. I would have thought as strong as that stuff was, the smell alone would let people know it wasn't there's, much less that first sip should have been enough." David quickly picked up his near empty cup. "It was nearly full when I set it down, how did she not notice it wasn't her coke."

Alex just sighed as he once again helped Aelita up. "Come on, I wanna play." She giggled again. "I promish I treat you nicely."

"Aelita, you're drunk, snap out of it." Alex tried to get her to stand back up and walk her to their room.

"I'm no drunk… hic." She smiled. "I don't drink."

Alex doubled his pace a bit when he felt her hand on his belt. "I wanna play." She repeated looking at him as they got into his room.

"Aelita, just sit down, relax." Alex said trying to move her to the bed, but she was more interested in him then sitting down.

"Whas wrong." She giggled a bit trying to kiss him again, but he leaned his head away.

"I told you, you're drunk." Alex repeated himself managing to get her on the bed for a few, but as he turned to go head back out, she got back up and lightly hugged him from behind, a hand reaching around to his groin.

"If you play with me I'll give you special treat." She kissed his cheek lightly as she walked keeping her chest against his back before stumbling a bit and nearly knocking them both down.

Alex quickly caught her as she smiled a bit more. "Oh kind of you." She grinned a bit.

"Aelita, just calm down a bit." Alex stated as he once again tried to get her on the bed. "Now's really not the best time for this."

"Awe, is my mate a little shy." She giggled a bit. Alex just shook his head a bit.

"You told me when we got out here that you were starting to enter your fertile period." Alex reminded her, but she wasn't listening, already trying to take her shirt off, with a few problems.

Aelita just laughed a little bit more. "Oh, we don't havesh to worry." She finally got her shirt off once again hugging him. "I won't be ready for pup til tomorro." She kissed him again, the taste of the coffee mix still very strong in her mouth.

"Geez, just what all was in that stuff." Alex backed up a bit, quickly popping open a can pepsi he had on the counter next to them to try and wash out the taste.

"Yea know Alex," She pressed her chest up against him again as she fumbled with his belt. "I could get real use to letting you play with me… hic." She giggled at the small sound she made. "I want to play so much." She growled a bit using her claws to try and cut the leather belt, forgetting that she liked to dull them daily, keeping them for show rather then use. Alex once again tried to back up, but in doing so, caught one of her nails on his belt clip and chipped the end off. Aelita quickly checked her nails and whined a bit. "Oh, you broke one."

"Aelita, please sit down." He said. "I promise that I'll play with you, but not right now. Neither of us are ready for pups yet and you are in your fertile state. We're still rebuilding the bathhouse, we need time make some more money to help raise our child when the time comes."

Aelita booed a little at his constant turning her down. "Maybe I'll just ask someone else to help to me." She giggled. "That mawile guy seems nice enough."

"You mean Cheryl?" Alex looked at her rather dumbstruck. "She's already with someone… I think." Alex stated recalling that she had mentioned a guy a few times, but never offically said whether they were together or not.

"Oh, I've never been with another girl." She giggled. "Wanna watch." She went for the door, but Alex quickly stopped her.

"No, bad idea, just sit down and take a few deep breaths, you're not yourself right now." Alex quickly tried to talk her out of leaving the room as she was given what all she was doing. As she turned to get up though, she had some how managed to undo her pants and they fell down as she started to walk. She once again fell over, but alex caught her, quickly helping her to the bed.

"But I wanna play with someone." She whined a bit as she worked her pants off the rest of the way. "Come on, please." She tried to get up, but Alex once again insisted she stay seated, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Fine…" Alex sighed a bit. Even when drunk, she was still very stubborn. "But we have to be careful." He stated

"Carefuls no fun." She smiled getting up and kissing his neck lightly. "I want to have fun, real fun." She grinned.

Alex just sighed as he slipped a finger down to her panties. "I'll play with you here, but I'm not going to…" She stumbled again before he could finish his phrase or really begin to do anything to her, they both fell backwards. Alex managed to stop them for the most part, but Aelita still hit her head as well as her side. "Aelita, are you okay?" He asked concerned.

"Ow… I think I'm just going to lay down now." She said slowly holding her head. Alex gave a small sigh of relief, quickly helping her up to the bed and getting an ice pack for her head.

Alex smiled a bit that she was okay, a little bit more that she had calmed down. "Aelita, I promise we'll play later, but just lay down okay." Aelita nodded lightly, the bump on her head already really starting to get to her a lot.

Alex quickly walked out to get her something for head, but as he came back, she had passed out. He covered her up before walking back out.

"Are you okay?" Johnson asked him as he walked back out. "That didn't sound too good with all those thuds I heard."

"Aelita couldn't exactly stand up straight." Alex replied. "She could certainly speak alright for the most part, but that was about all…"

Johnson nodded. "I'll have something for her when she wakes up. That bottle actually had a expiration date on it and it expired last year."

Alex was a bit worried by the comment, but nodded. "Don't worry, David already said he'd be willing to pay for anything if that drink did anything to her. Why he went ahead and made another glass of the stuff though is beyond me."

"I can't even begin to image why he made another glass." Alex added as he walked back out to the others letting them know that Aelita was okay for the most part.

With Aelita out for the night though and Alex not really one to party much, doubly so without Aelita, the group slowly began to clean up and put things away. David left soon enough as well, with the words that he continue with the journal he had found mentioning a Spellsworn High Temple. Alex asked about it again, but like before, David stated that he didn't know enough to tell if it was just speculation or if there was an actual temple detailed in the journal.

Alex mostly let Aelita sleep in peace that night, careful not to disturb her as he went to bed himself. He still woke up a bit later then usual, but being up as late as he was last night, that was understandable. Aelita was still sleeping, and Alex covered her up again as he went through his morning routine with the addition of preparing a small concoction that Johnson helped him with, saying that it would do good for Aelita. He was already expecting her to have a massive hangover when she woke up. Alex was inclined to agree, the way she was stumbling around and wanted to have some fun, there was no doubt in his mind that Johnson would be right.

He took his time waiting for her to get up, while carefully cleaning up his room a bit, but only moving the lighter stuff, mostly just packing it back into the large boxes he had in his room. When he finally heard her start to stir, he turned to look at her holding her head and covering her eyes. "Alex… is that you?" She asked a bit weakly.

"You okay?" He asked quickly opening his fridge and getting out the small shot glass with the concoction in it as well as a can of cherry soda to help her wash it down.

"What happened?" She whined a little bit as Alex took a seat next to her. "And what's that smell?"

"Here, drink this." He said holding up the shot glass. "Just hold your nose and down it fast."

She quickly pushed it away though. "Johnson says it will help with your hang over."

"Hang over?" She looked at him confused.

"After you tried that candy of David's last night, you took his drink by mistake." Alex told her. "It had some kind of coffee and rum mix in it, really strong stuff."

"What?" She looked at him not able to recall much of anything from last night after the movie.

Alex sighed a bit and set the small shot down as he gave her the short simple version.

"Why do I still recall something about puppies and some mawile?" She asked.

Alex stayed quiet for a but finally spoke up. "After your drink, you kept saying you wanted to play."

Aelita gave him another confused look, until Alex elaborated on it. "You started to flirt with me, wanting to share some personal time." He said as she shook her head very much aware of the fact that she was in her fertile period now. "You weren't yourself and I turned you down for that reason." He said. "As for puppies, you tried to argue that you couldn't have any until today and you kind of mixed up Cheryl for a guy…" Alex said that last part a bit slowly and Aelita looked at him.

"Please tell me I didn't do anything stupid…" She whined a bit from the way he was quiet.

"You asked if I wanted to watch you make out with her." Alex replied slowly but quickly added a second part. "I made sure to keep you in the room though."

Aelita kissed his cheek. "Thank you." She said smiling a bit.

"Come on, try that drink now, Johnson says it will help a lot and we've still got a few things to do later on if your up to it." He once again picked up the shot glass and Aelita growled a bit, not liking the way the thing looked, but her head was pounding and she still tried it only to nearly threw it back up seconds later. Alex quickly handed her the cherry soda and she downed that just fast.

Aelita spent the next few hours just laying back as her head slowly got better and she left the room. Samuel and Johnson were both quick to check up on her as she got out making sure that she was okay. She was feeling better, but her head was still pounding hard.

Even though she was up, Aelita was a bit sluggish that whole day with Alex checking in on her from time to time while he took the chance to clear up his room a bit with Johnson's and Bryan's help. Aelita mostly stayed out of the way, but Alex did give her the book that had the Dragonians in it. It wasn't as detailed as many of the other cultures that Alex had studied, but then again, the group wasn't around very long, which Alex explained was due to a large war that started shortly around the time that they had appeared. Aelita was bit sad to hear that they vanished during the war as she found what she read of them to be very interesting.

Late in the afternoon though, Alex was moving another box when Johnson got another call, but this time, it was a rather long one with that Alex quickly caught on was about this Spellsworn high Temple.

As soon the call was over though, Johnson quickly put some of the team to work. As for Alex and Aelita though, they had the task of going out to get new gear for themselves and some replacement gear for the team while they were out, for which Samuel had volunteered to give them a ride.

Even though it was a bit late, Alex knew just where to go for the basics. All the climbing gear was at the extreme sports shop and Alex made sure to check all of the gear like Johnson had taught him, even giving Aelita a few good tips. The trip there was relatively quick just like with the outdoors fishing shop which also sold plenty of other goods, in this case tents and few odds and ends. They also had time for one more stop that night to the pharmacy where Alex gathered up the usual set of bandages, anti-venom, and a fresh set of four first-aid kits.

Andrew was gone himself when they got back, Johnson having sent him out to collect a few harder to find supplies. It was a quiet night for the most part, aside from the usual talks of what all they were going to find at this site David had been trying to track down.

The next day though was a lot harder. Aelita was very glad that she had gotten over her hang over as Alex was once again tasked with taking her out to get new gear. Rather then the basic set up he had though, this time they both needed complete independent sets of gear.

Samuel again volunteered to help out as Johnson handed them both a check for about a grand each, saying that this was why they both needed to save up a fair deal of money. In addition, they needed all their gear picked out by the end of the next day so that they could have it all packed up and ready to for shipping by the end of the week.

Alex was easily able to navigate the city, helping point out a few short cuts here and there to the places that would provide himself and Aelita with the best gear. Alex helped Aelita pick out everything they needed, from some very heavy grade hiking packs and some thermoses that even had a small heating element to them to keep their contents warmer even longer. Alex also made sure that they had canteens, and the basic survival gear. Aelita was a bit shocked by the some of the things though, including a the survival bowies that came with the kits Alex had bought for the whole team having forgotten them last night. He also made sure that they had fishing line, some hooks, and matches even though they had lighters as well.

Alex made sure that they tested and checked every last thing they bought, even the thread he got them for sewing incase they needed it. Recalling his problems with his tent during his Advanced Survival Final though, he also grabbed some last minute tent patches as well.

Aelita was surprised how well he easily managed to find everything, and how many tips he was giving her the whole day though, but she was very grateful for them. Alex was more then happy to share everything he knew and by the end of the day, they had most of the stuff they needed ready to go.

As they got back, everyone was busy. Cheryl was going over all the medical supplies while Johnson was in the study looking over a copy of the region they were suppose to be heading to on the Liquid Projection table, trying to get a feel for the general area. Even Bryan was busy, packing up several boxes with supplies.

Alex and Aelita quickly began to help out as Johnson gave them all the general idea of where they were going. The rest of the week was filled with packing up boxes of supplies and continuous phone calls from David giving them a bit more information as he got he. By Saturday though, the team was ready and all of them were on a plane as Samuel headed back Nenwill.


End file.
